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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 








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T/df# 


r> 


^ ° f co »% 

^W/NGTON, O' C ' 


ntered acccording to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by Corns & Jackson, in the 
Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 


































/THE CIMARR 0a , 



^^/NGMAN, KANSAS-^ 


Organized for the purpose of establishing 
a colony in the Oklahoma country as soon as 
the lands are open for settlement. 

The colony will aim to select at least ter¬ 
ritory enough for a large county, with county- 
seat, and the advantages that can be obtained 
by an early occupation. Each member will 
be deeded one lot in the county-seat, and 
will have one hundred and sixty acres of 
land selected for him. 

Price of membership, Ten Dollars. Ko 
reduction. 

For certificates and circulars address 

E. C. COLE, Pres’t, 

Kingman, Kansas. 


Kefer to Bank of Kingman. 





OKLAHOMA! 

POLITICALLY AND TOPOGRAPHICALLY 

d^s<3ribb;d. 


History and Guide 

to THE 

Indian Territory. 


Biographical Sketches of 

CflPT. DMID L. PAYNE, 

W. L. COUCH, WM. H. OSBORH, and others. 


A Complete Guide to the Indian Territory, Illustrated with Map, 
Hunting and Fishing Grounds, 


-by- > > > 

x/ 

A. F\ JACKSON and EO. C. COLfii, 


Publishing House of Ramsey, Millett & Hudson, 



/ TEA 

















n*<n 










V 



\ 


% 




PREFATORY. 


From time immemorial there has lain a most 
enchanting country in the midst of a great nation. 
Still little is known concerning its true vastness by 
the average American of to-day. Within its bound¬ 
aries lie the Indian Territory and the Oklahoma coun¬ 
try ; a country that will contribute to the world’s 
granary, the world’s treasury, the world’s highway. 
It is a picture of a fleeting phase in our national life; 
it makes a new geography for that portion of Amer¬ 
ica. Little is known of it—little of its greatness, 
richness, and beauty. Its forests and prairies await 
the laborer and the capitalist; its cataracts, canons, 
and crests woo the painter; its mountains, salt beds, 
and stupendous vegetable productions challenge the 
naturalist. Its climate invites the invalid, healing 
the systems wounded by ruder climates. Its fields 
are large. 

If we succeed in bringing to our reader’s knowl¬ 
edge a new country, almost at the doors of the capitals 
of six great States, our object shall have been ac¬ 
complished. 

Kingman, Kas., March 4,1885. 












































































































. 




















* 









#• 








/ 

/ 



A. P. JACKSON. 














OKLAHOMA. 


BIOGRAPHY OF CAPT. DAVID L. PAYNE. 

With the recent death of the Hon. David 
L. Payne, the great interest already agitating the 
people, and in fact the whole world on both sides of 
the Atlantic—the Oklahoma country and the Indian 
Territory—to tenfold, and almost fever heat, so that 
the great mass of the people are crazed over this most 
beautiful country, is of no wonder to the average man 
of to-day. 

Of the statesman, the soldier, and the pioneer, 
David L. Payne’s name stands foremost in the history 
of this country—Oklahoma. His sterling qualities, 
his faithful friendship, unwavering in devotion and 
constant as a polar star, have endeared him to those 
who knew him best. Whoever spent an hour in his 
friendly company without feeling his life’s burdens 
as a feather? conscious that you were with one 
whom you were proud to call your friend—a con¬ 
vivial companion, and a true gentleman in every sense 
that the word implies. Rudeness and vulgarity were 
never a portion of your entertainment in his com- 




6 


Oklahoma. 


pany. His camp was your home; his noble heart 
your solace. He had the generosity of a prince. 
His purse was ever open in behalf of those around 
him who were more in need than himself. When 
more was needed his industry would procure it. He 
had friends—indeed, who was not his friend? Of 
his enemies, they were few; and of them we need not 
speak. He was brave and true. He had a heart, 
when touched, full of love and the pity of a woman. 
He had faults that were his own ; they were few and 
easily forgotten. He had more brains than books, 
more sense than education, more courage and strength 
than polish. Hatred can not reach him more. He 
sleeps in the sanctuary of the tomb, beneath the 
quiet of the stars. He did not live to see the sun¬ 
shine of his dearest hope matured, but left the field 
for his successor to see his great ambition attained; 
that noble country—Oklahoma—opened up for settle¬ 
ment by the white man, and the millions of acres of 
land made into bright and happy homes, occupied— 
free and unmolested — by the poor and struggling 
homesteaders. 

David L. Payne was born in Grant County, Indi¬ 
ana, on the 30th day of December, 1836, where he 
received the usual country-school education in the 
winter, working upon his father’s farm in the sum- 


Oklahoma. 


7 


mer-time. He was aright and forcible in character 
from his youth, and became more than an average 
scholar. Being a lover of hunting and adventurous 
sports, he, in the spring of 1858, with his brother, 
started West with the intention of engaging in the 
Mormon war, which was creating great excitement at 
that time throughout the whole country, and espe¬ 
cially in the West. Beaching Doniphan County, Kan¬ 
sas^ he found the excitement somewhat abated. In¬ 
ducements being offered, Payne preempted a body of 
land and erected a saw-mill thereon. This investment, 
while flattering at the start, proved an unfortunate 
enterprise, and young Payne found himself entirely 
destitute of means. He was placed, so to speak, upon 
his own metal. With an active brain that would ac¬ 
knowledge no defeat, he soon found an occupation of 
a most congenial character. 

At the time of Payne’s settlement, Doniphan 
County—now a fertile and thickly populated section— 
was the grazing-ground for vast herds of buffalo, 
deer, antelope, wolves, and other wild animals native 
to the plains. He became a hunter. There he hunted 
with much success, as well as profit. He gradually 
extended his field to the South-west until he had pene¬ 
trated the Magillion Mountains of Hew Mexico and 
explored the course of the Cimarron River through 


8 


Oklahoma. 


the Indian Territory, and so became familiar and ac¬ 
quainted with the topographical situation of the 
great South-west. He naturally drifted from hunting 
to that of scouting. He was soon engaged by private 
parties on expeditions, and after a time by the Govern¬ 
ment. He became the comrade of all the distin¬ 
guished trappers, guides, and hardy characters of that 
wild country. His intimacy with Kit Carson, Wild 
Bill, California Joe, Buffalo Bill, General Custer, and 
many others of national reputation, approached com¬ 
panionship. 

When the civil war broke out Payne was one of 
the first to volunteer his services, being placed in the 
4th Regiment of Kansas Volunteers, which was 
subsequently consolidated with the 3d Infantry; 
shortly afterwards the two were formed into the 
10th Regiment. He served three years as private, 
refusing during the time six different tenders of com¬ 
mission. At the expiration of his three years’ term 
he returned to Doniphan County, Kansas, and in the 
fall of 1864 he was elected to the Legislature of Kan¬ 
sas, serving in the sessions of 1864 and 1865; during 
which time, while never courting the part of an 
orator, his influence was pronounced. At the close 
of the Legislature he again volunteered as a private, 
taking the place of a poor neighbor who was drafted. 


CAPT. PAYNE AS AN INDIAN SCOUT. 











< 












































































Oklahoma. 


9 


He felt that he was better able to stand the hardships, 
and leave his friend and neighbor at home with his 
large and dependent family. Payne, upon re-entering 
the service, assisted in recruiting a company for Gen¬ 
eral Hancock’s corps of volunteers, and succeeded in 
enlisting oe hundred and nine men, all hardy frontiers¬ 
men, who were devotedly attached to him. Again 
Payne refused to aocept a commission, preferring to 
remain a private and with his friends 

Payne’s services in the volunteer army extended 
over a period of eight years, first as a private in 
Company F, 10th Regiment Kansas Infantry, from 
August, 1861, until August, 1864. His second 
enlistment was in Company G, 8th Regiment of 
Western Volunteers, and as a private, from March, 
1865, until March, 1866. His third service was 
as Captain of Company D of the 18th Kansas 
Cavalry, which he served from October, 1867, until 
November of the same year. And his last service 
was in the Regular Army as Captain of Company 
H, of the 19th Kansas Cavalry, in which he 
served from October, 1868, until October, 1869. In 
the meantime he performed other services of great 
value to the State. He was at one time Postmaster at 
Fort Leavenworth ; also appointed Sergeant-at-arms, 
for two terms, of the Kansas State Senate. And in 


10 


Oklahoma. 


1875 and 1876 he was Door-keeper to the House of 
Representatives in Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
Besides engagingin political campaigns that gave him 
social and acknowledged influence as a leader, he was 
an ardent supporter of Gen. Tom Ewing, who, after 
serving a term as Chief Justice of Kansas, sought the 
great honor of United States Senator. It is credited 
to* Capt. D. L. Payne that Gen. Ewing received his 
nomination through his influence and support; and 
such were his efforts in behalf of Gen. Ewing that 
they remained ever, afterwards warm and steadfast 
friends. 

During the rebellion Capt. Payne was attached 
to the Army of the Frontier under Gen. Blunt, and 
was engaged in nearly all of the memorable conflicts 
that took place in Missouri and Arkansas, distin¬ 
guished for the desperate fighting and mortality of 
men. He was a participant in the battle of Prairie 
Grove, Arkansas, which occurred on the 7th day of 
December, 1862; and in this engagement he performed 
an act of gallantry which entitled him to a place in 
history. In the hotest of the fight his First Lieuten¬ 
ant, Cyrus Leland, was shot through the arm and 
then through the right shoulder. The enemy, having 
recovered from the charge, and re-inforced, poured 
a deadly fire into the ranks of Capt. Payne’s com- 


Oklahoma. 


11 


pany. The commanding officer ordered his men to 
fall back. Capt. Payne, seeing his brave comrade 
lying upon the ground, while the maddened 
enemy was charging and ready to trample him under, 
stepped out of the ranks and lifted up the almost life¬ 
less lieutenant and bore him upon his shoulders for 
fully one-half mile to his own tent, where surgical 
attendance saved the life of his friend. Lieutenant 
Leland was afterwards appointed Adjutant-General 
upon Gen. Ewing’s staff, and is now a wealthy citizen 
of Troy, Kansas, a living evidence of Payne’s hero¬ 
ism and devotion. During the session of 1864 and 
1865 Payne opposed the Special-Bounty Act purely 
upon patriotic grounds. However, the act was 
passed; but he refused to accept it for his own use, 
but donated it to the county which he represented, 
thus sustaining his honesty and consistency. 

After the close of the war Payne again resumed 
the occupation of plainsman, hunting, scouting, guard¬ 
ing caravan trains. From nature he was congenial; 
from his commanding figure and ways, he was held in 
respect by the most daring desperado and the wild 
Indians of the plains, and earned for himself the name 
of the Cimarron Scout. The Indian Territory, the 
courses of the Cimarron River, and the Great Salt 
basin were as familiar to him as his childhood play- 


12 


Oklahoma. 


ground. But few men knew as well the Indian 
character as he, and his numerous conflicts with the 
Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas, and Havajoes were 
numerous and beyond description. 

In the year 1870 Capt. Payne removed to Sedg¬ 
wick County, Kansas, near Wichita, and the follow¬ 
ing year he was again elected to the Legislature from 
Sedgwick County ; and during that session, through 
his influence Sedgwick County was divided, and a 
new county •formed from the northern portion and 
called Harvey County, In the redistrictiug one of 
the longest townships was called Payne Township, 
and for many years it was his home, where he owned 
a large ranch about ten miles east of Wichita. 

In 1879 Capt. Payne became interested in a 
movement for the occupation and settlement of a 
district in the Indian Territory known as Oklahoma, 
which signifies in the Indian language Beautiful Land . 
This Beautiful Land is located in the center of the 
Indian Territory, and comprises an area of 14,000,000 
acres of the finest land on the American continent. 
Capt. Payne claimed the right to settle on this land 
under the treaty made by the Government with the 
Indians in 1866, by which this district was ceded to 
the United States and became a part of the public 
domain, and was actually surveyed and set apart as 


CAPT. PAYNE CROSSING THE LINE GOING TO OKLAHOMA. 













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


13 


such. Through his personal endeavors a large colony 
was organized for the purpose of entering and set¬ 
tling upon these lands. The colony moved early in 
December, 1880^ and first assembled upon the borders 
of the Territory near Arkansas City, on the banks of 
Bitter Creek; and, after organizing upon military basis, 
moved along the State line to Hunnewell, where they 
went into camp. The colony was closely followed by 
the United States cavalry under command of Col. 
Copinger, who had previously informed the intending 
colonists that any attempt to enter the Indian Terri¬ 
tory would be forcibly resisted, the President of 
the United States having issued a proclamation to 
that effect. At Hunnewell the troops occupied one 
side of the creek and the colonists the other. The 
latter remained in camp for three days, receiving a 
great many recruits from Western Kansas. On Sun¬ 
day, the 12th, the camp was crowded during the day 
with the inhabitants of the surrounding country, who 
came some from sympathy and some from curiosity. 
In the afternoon there was a dress-parade by the 
colonists, and fully 600 men were in line. The 
wagons numbered 325, with a goodly number of 
women and children. During the afternoon of this 
memorable Sabbath-day the colonists held divine 
service, conducted by the colony chaplain. The 


14 


Oklahoma, 


United States troops were invited to attend, which 
they did, officers and soldiers. The services were 
opened by that old familiar air, “ America”; and the 
text from Exodus: “ The Lord commandeth unto 

Moses ‘to go forth and possess the promised land/” 
Appropriate hymns were sung, and the services were 
closed with the rendition of the “ Star Spangled Ban¬ 
ner.” The feelings and emotions were visibly man¬ 
ifested on all sides, and officers and soldiers affected 
alike. The stars and stripes were fanning the breezes 
of a beautiful day from both camps. The wagons 
were covered by banners with such mottoes as: “ Strike 
for your homes,” “ No turn back,” “ On to Okla¬ 
homa,” and sundry other devices. In the evening 
council was held as to what course to pursue. It was 
decided, to wait a few days for some modification of 
the President s orders. Receiving no answer from the 
petition fhat had been forwarded to the President, 
and getting somewhat uneasy, some proposed to enter 
the land in spite of the military. A meeting was 
held on the 13th day of December, at which Dr. 
Robert Wilson, of Texas, was appointed a committee 
of one to go to Washington, D. C., and see if some¬ 
thing could be done at once to relieve the critical 
situation of the colonists On the 14th day of De¬ 
cember the colony moved on to Caldwell, some thirty- 


CAPT. PAYNE BRIDGING THE DEEP FORK. 
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


15 


five miles, where they were joined by five more 
wagons and twenty men. The mayor and a long 
procession of citizens escorted them through the 
town, ladies waving handkerchiefs and men and 
children cheering. The troops moved along with the 
colonists without interfering with their progress. The 
day following a mass-meeting was held by the citizens 
of Caldwell, resolutions were adopted indorsing the 
movement to settle these lands, and asking the Presi¬ 
dent to order the troops to accompany the colonists 
to Oklahoma as an escort. Being unable to induce 
Congress or the President to move in their behalf, the 
colonists became restive, and shortly afterwards— 
Capt. Payne having been arrested by the United States 
authorities, charged with trespassing upon Indian 
lands, and thus deprived of their leader—the colonists 
temporarily disbanded. Capt. Payne was taken to 
Fort Smith, before the United States District Court, 
Judge Parker presiding, and on the 7th of March, 
1881, was tried before that Court. Capt. Payne 
was ably represented by Judge Barker, of St. Louis, 
Mo., who argued at length the treaty of 1866. The 
question raised by Capt. Payne’s arrest involved 
directly the nature and validity of that treaty, and 
hence means were offered for testing a point upon 
which the Secretary of the Interior and the ablest 


16 


Oklahoma. 


lawyers of the country* were at variance, the latter 
holding that Oklahoma was a part of the public 
domain and subject to settlement same as other pub¬ 
lic lands. Capt. Payne at this trial was nominally 
bound over under bonds of $1,000 not to re-enter the 
Territory, and returned home. Since the above arrest 
Capt. Payne has made four well-organized expedi¬ 
tions into the Territory, each time safely landing upon 
the Oklahoma lands; and there laid out towns, located 
farms, ploughed and planted, built houses—and has as 
often been turned out by the United States military, 
seen his property destroyed before his eyes, and forced 
to the Kansas line and there turned loose, he each 
time demanding a trial before the courts. His last 
expedition was in the spring and summer of 1884. 
He had with him 250 wagons and about 500 men, 
all being again dispersed by United States troops 
and escorted to the Kansas line. Capt. Payne and 
his officers were arrested and dragged through the 
Territory to the Texas line, thence back to the in¬ 
terior of the Territory, marched on foot, and often 
suffering for the want of food and water, the object 
seeming to be to wear them out. And then taken to 
Fort Smith and there refused atrial; then tasen from 
there to the United States Court at Topeka, Kansas, 
where public sentiment finally demanded a trial. 



tt 



/ 


COLONISTS CHAINED TO THEIR OWN WAGONS BY THE MILITARY AND DRAGGED 

THROUGH THE TERRITORY. 



































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


17 


which he was accorded at the fall term of 1884, and 
which resulted in a decision that he was guilty of no 
crime; that the lands which he sought to settle upon 
were public lands. Elated with this decision, he re¬ 
turned to Wichita, Kansas, and, though shaken in 
health from exposure and exhaustion, he at once pro¬ 
ceeded to gather about him his faithful followers; and 
found himself with the largest and strongest expedi¬ 
tion that he had ever yet organized. And in a few days 
he would have marched at its head to the promised 
land, when suddenly, on the morning of November 28, 
1884, while at breakfast at the Hotel De Barnard, in 
Wellington, Kansas, he fell dead in the arms of a 
faithful servant. He died without pain or a struggle. 
His body is buried in a metallic casket at Wellington, 
Kansas, and was followed to its present resting-place 
by the largest concourse of people that ever gathered 
together for a like purpose in Southern Kansas. They 
numbered many thousands. The time will come, and 
at no far-distant day, when his body will find a per¬ 
manent resting-place beneath a monument erected to 
him in the great square of the capital of the State of 
Oklahoma. 

Personally Capt. Payne was one of the most 
popular men on the Western frontier. He was a 
natural-born scout, and inured to the hardships of 


18 


Oklahoma. 


the Western frontier. His mother was a cousin of 
the celebrated David Crockett, for whom he was 
named. Capt. Payne was never married. 

The mantle falls upon a man, not unlike him, 
who can safely be trusted to carry out the plans of 
the dead, so nobly begun and nearly completed—W. 
L. Couch. 





CAPT. PAYNE’S LAST CAMP IN OKLAHOMA. 
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


19 


CAPT. W. L. COUCH AND ¥M. H. OSBORN. 

Capt. W. L. Couch marched at the head of the 
last expedition in the autumn of 1884. He entered the 
Oklahoma country with his staff, consisting of H. H. 
Safford, Secretary; G. F. Brown, Treasurer'; and E. S. 
Wilcox as Generalissimo—with about 450 men. Before 
reaching the town-site, they passed through wire fences 
and found themselves within a pasture containing 
100,000 head of cattle belonging to the military 
ring. They at once commenced work upon places of 
abode, erecting a school-house out of logs; when 
upon the 12th of January, 1885, they were surprised 
by Gen. Hatch’s command, consisting of about 500 
cavalry and infantry and a battery of two Hotch¬ 
kiss guns, demanding an immediate surrender of the 
settlers. The following notice was on Tuesday, the 
15th day of January, served on Capt. Couch’s colony 
at Stillwater: 

“ To Whom it May Concern: That the orders and 
proclamation of the President of the United States 
may be enforced, pertaining to the Indian Territory, 
for the ejectment of persons who are now there with¬ 
out authority and who have already resented with 
arms the order to remove them, it has been found 
necessary to invoke the assistance of the military. The 
General commanding the department of Missouri has 



20 


Oklahoma. 


been entrusted with the enforcement of the laws, and 
has dispatched a large force under the command of the 
undersigned, with instructions to see that the laws are 
observed in Oklahoma. It is within the knowledge 
of the officer in command that some hundreds of men 
have banded together to resist with arms the execu¬ 
tion of the law, of avowed insurrection against the 
Government. It is devoutly to be hoped any unlawful 
action on your part leading to the sacrifice of human 
life may be avoided. It must be clearly understood 
that the killing of any soldier obeying orders in the 
execution of his duty, by men armed to resist the law, 
is simply murder, and that they will sooner or later 
be tried for the same, as principals or accessories. 
None will regret more deeply such a result than the 
commanding officer and the officers serving under him. 
The responsibility must rest entirely with yourselves. 
It is with great regret that the commanding officer 
learns that men who served their country faithfully 
during some of the best years of their life to sustain 
the laws of the Government are now openly leagued 
with insurgents against the flag they served so well. 
It ill becomes them as old soldiers of the Union, and 
upon reflection they must acknowledge their error to 
you as all citizens. The Legislature is open to settle 
any grievance ; there is no necessity to resort to arms. 
Should the collision occur to which it is the intention 
of your leaders to compel you, the military will not 
be responsible for loss of life or stock from roving 
bands of Indians, who will seize the opportunity to 
inflict injury. All the trouble can easily be avoided 
by observing the proclamation of the President of the 
United States, and peaceably leaving the Territory as 
directed. 

[Signed.] Edward Hatch, 

Brevet Major-General,” 


Oklahoma. 


21 


The weather being extremely cold, and Capt. 
Couch’s supplies being cut off and he nearly out of pro¬ 
visions, they were forced to break camp and return 
to Kansas ; not surrendering, but treating the military 
with utter contempt. In other words it was a game of 
“ freeze outso cold the weather that the Government 
was obliged to send fur-clothing for the soldiers, a 
luxury the colonists knew but little about. The camp 
remained intact, and no improvements were destroyed 
by the soldiers, as on former occasions. Capt. Couch 
was arrested upon his arrival at Arkansas City by the 
United States Marshal, and taken before Commis¬ 
sioner Shearman at "Wichita and put under bonds of 
$1,000 to appear at ten o’clock a. m. on Febru¬ 
ary 10, 1885. While at Arkansas City the colonists 
held a meeting, which was attended by thousands of 
people, and some appropriate resolutions were passed, 
among them the following : 

“ Resolved, That we are unamimously of the[opinion 
that President Arthur’s use of the military force of 
the country, in defiance of the Constitution and laws 
which he is sworn to defend, is solely for the purpose 
of preventing an investigation that would lead to his 
impeachment and the criminal prosecution of a ring 
of bribed officials, extending all the way from the 
White House to Oklahoma. 

“ Resolved , That we are only here to remain a suffi¬ 
cient time to outfit for another and more determined 


22 


Oklahoma. 


effort to remain and make homes for ourselves and 
families upon this portion of the public domain. 

“ Resolved , That the action of the Executive in ask¬ 
ing the armed forces of the United States and forcing 
them to make a winter campaign, at great expense to 
the treasury and extreme suffering of troops, when we 
had declared by a memorial that we would quietly 
submit to civil process, was a wanton use of arbitrary 
power without authority of law, for which he should 
be impeached, as the highest tribunal holds that no 
man is above law. 

“ Resolved , That the utter ignorance displayed by 
Senator Maxey, of Texas, in asserting in the United 
States Senate that these lands in controversy had never 
been surveyed, sectionized, and subdivided, deserves 
our pity, and the Senators who heard him without 
correcting him deserve censure. 

“ Resolved , That the action of the authorities in 
denying us the right to settle on these lands, while 
another class is allowed to remain, guarded and pro¬ 
tected by th*e army of the United States, is without 
precedent, arbitrary, and unjust.” 

On the morning of February 10th the prisoners 
appeared promptly for examination. Assistant United 
States District Attorney Charles Hatton said he 
expected witnesses from the Territory on the noon 
train, and therefore it was agreed to adjourn to half¬ 
past one o’clock of that day. The train arrived, but 
no witnesses. The court-room was crowded with wise 
and gray-haired men, and the Oklahoma question was 
fully discussed. It was the unanimous opinion that 
the whole affair was a scandalous farce, and that the 


Oklahoma. 


23 


Government was making an ass of itself. It is con¬ 
ceded, if the Government was justified, more effectual 
measures would have been taken, and less farcical deal¬ 
ing with intruders upon Government rights. It is an 
acknowledgment that the Oklahoma country will 
soon he thrown open to actual settlement, and that we 
shall have no more displays of military heroism 

There is another faction connected with the Ok¬ 
lahoma country known as the Osborn “ Petitioners.” 

¥m. Ii. Osborn has been one of the most ener¬ 
getic and useful members of Payne’s colony, being 
Payne’s private secretary. For about three years he 
was in a position to become very familiar with the 
history of the colony affairs ; and after repeated at¬ 
tempts to make permanent location, and as often 
being arrested and driven out, he with others advo¬ 
cated that the only way was through petition to Con¬ 
gress. This being approved of by a portion of the 
original colony members, Osborn, Allison, and others 
branched off and formed what has since been known 
as the Osborn colony; always, however, working in 
harmony with Payne’s colony, where Payne’s policy 
was not regarded by them as being too radical. The 
wisdom of their course, and great services, is conceded 
by all, but the radical course of Payne was evidently 
necessary to open the way for the petitioners, without 


24 


Oklahoma. 


which their petitions would have fallen like autumn 
leaves before Congress, and been buried in oblivion. 
The rights of the petitioners were vouchsafed to 
them; but the time has now arrived when not only 
petitions, but action, and harmonious action with the 
Couch colony, As demanded. The whole matter is 
substantially now in the United States courts, with 
recent decisions in favor of the latter. The present 
administration, it is expected, will pursue a more 
lenient course, and open the gates to this most cov¬ 
eted country. Hence millions of readers are inter¬ 
ested in knowing more fully what they will find in 
the great Italy of America. Of all the subjects be¬ 
fore the people to-day the most inquired about is 
Oklahoma. The press of the country is flooded with 
inquiries and questions, which space forbid them to 
answer—all concerning these lands; and there could be 
no better evidence of the existence of the wide-spread 
interest felt in the matter. The dispatches from all 
over the country further attest the general interest in 
Oklahoma, and the growing conviction that the white 
settlers must be let in. The “ Chicago Tribune,” in an 
editorial, recites that which can not but impress the 
country as a singular thing—that cattle corporations 
should be permitted to occupy, unmolested,lands from 
which poor and helpless home-seekers must be driven, 


Oklahoma. 


25 


if need be, at the bayonet’s point and witn bloody 
slaughter. It is strange, too, that the occupation of 
the Black Hills, clearly the property of the Indians, 
should have been effected with so much less trouble 
than is now being encountered in Oklahoma. The 
truth is, the cattle corporations, money, and influence 
constitute the backbone of the opposition to the set¬ 
tlement of Oklahoma. This is the power behind the 
throne that is sending troops to either kill or eject a 
few honest and well-meaning people, who want to 
secure a place to earn a living by the kind permission 
of the corporations. This is the power that has pre¬ 
vented and is now preventing the cultivation of 
several millions of acres of the best land in the fairest 
climate on the face of the earth, and is keeping back 
the production of great crops which the world is in¬ 
terested in. It is believed, from the recent decisions, 
that the judges of the United States courts are of 
the same way of thinking that prevails among the 
people of the South-west. Call off the army, and 
show corporations that, notwithstanding their in¬ 
fluence and their money, they do not own this world, 
and that their cattle is not king. The “ Kansas City 
Times ” says: “ If the title of legitimate and actual 

settlers is not clear, let Congress make it clear just as 
quickly as proper legislation can be passed. The 


26 


Oklahoma. 


opening of Oklahoma is bound to come, and the men 
who are doing all they can to help the cattle corpora¬ 
tions had best get in with the procession. It is clear, 
in any event, that it is only a matter of a few 
months.” 




Oklahoma. 


27 


TOPOGRAPHY OF THE IKD;AH TERRITORY. 

The Indian Territory proper is 480 miles east 
and west, including the neutral strip, and varies in 
width from 54 to 220 miles north and south. It lies 
between latitude 83° 30' and 37° north, and longitude 
94° 21' and 100° west. 

On June 30,1883, the General Land-office reports 
the area of Indian Territory to be 63,253 square 
miles, or 40,481,600 acres ; 13,477,610 acres remain 
unsurveyed. Also, on June 30, 1883, the General 
Land-office reports the area of the land slip to be 5,738 
square miles, or 3,672,640 acres; making a total of 
68,991 square miles, or 44,154,240 acres. 

It is bounded on the north by Kansas and Col¬ 
orado, on the east by Missouri and Arkansas, on the 
south by Texas, on the west by Texas and Hew 
Mexico, on the 100th meridian. The principal tribes 
of Indians are located as follows: The Chickasaws 
in the south; Choctaws, south-east; Cherokees in 
the north-east; the Creeks, Kiowas, and Comanches 
in the south-west; the Pottawatomies, Seminoles, 
Wichitas are in the central portion of the Territory. 
The different tribes and the number of Indians be- 



28 


Oklahoma. 


longing to each tribe are given by the latest statistics, 
June 30, 1883, as follows: 

Cheyenne and Arapahoe Agency—Cheyenne, 
4,255; Arapahoe, 2,314. 

Kiowa, Comanche, and Wichita Agency—Kiowa, 
1,176; Wichita, 214; Towaconie, 152; Keechie, 78; 
Waco, 49; Penetheka, Comanche, 165; Delaware, 
80; Caddo, 553; Apache, 340; Comanche, 1,407. 

Osage Agency—Osage, 1,950; Kaw, 285; Quapaw, 

200 . 

Otoe Agency—Otoe and Missouria, 274. 

Pawnee Agency—Pawnee, 1,251. 

Ponca Agency—Ponca, 542 ; Kez Perce, 322. 
Quapaw Agency—Seneca, 322 ; Wyandotte, 287; 
Shawnee (Eastern), 72; Miami (Western), 59; Peoria, 
Pea and Piankeshaw, 144 ; Modoc, 97 ; Quapaw, 98; 
Ottawa, 115. 

Sac and Pox Agency—Sac and Pox of the Mis¬ 
sissippi, 442 ; Absentee Shawnee, 721; Pottawatomie 
(citizen), 480; Mexican Kickapoo, 418; Iowa, 86; 
Mokohoko band, Sac and Pox wandering ' in 
Kansas, 90. 

Union Agency—Chickasaw, 6,000; Choctaw, 16,- 
000; Cherokee, 20,336 ; Creek, 15,000 ; Seminole, 2,- 
700. Total number of Indians in the Territory,79,021. 


Oklahoma. 


29 


The following is a list of Indian agencies and 
agents with their post-office and telegraphic addresses: 

Cheyenne and Arapahoe—John S. Miles, post- 
office Darlington, Indian Territory, via Caldwell, Kan¬ 
sas ; telegraphic address Fort Reno, Indian Territory, 
via Dodge City, Kansas. 

Kiowa, Comanche, and Wichita—P. B. Hunt, 
post-office Anadarko, Indian Territory; telegraphic 
address Fort Sill, Indian Territory. 

Osage—Laban J. Miles, post-office Pawhuska, 
Indian Territory; telegraphic address Coffeyville 
Kansas. 

Ponca, Pawnee, and Otoe—Lewellyn E. Woodin, 
post-office Ponca, Pawnee and Otoe Agency, Indian 
Territory, via Arkansas City, Kansas; telegraphic 
address Arkansas Ci£y, Kansas. 

Quapaw—D. B. Dyer, post-office Seneca, Hew- 
ton County, Mo.; telegraphic address Seneca, Mo. 

Sac and Fox—Jacob V. Cartar, post-office Sac 
and Fox Agency, Indian Territory; telegraphic ad¬ 
dress Muscogee, Indian Territory. 

Union—John Q. Tufts, post-office Muscogee, 
Territory; telegraphic address Muscogee, Indian 
Territory. 

The above is a true and correct list of Indian 
agencies in the Territory. The total umber of 


30 


Oklahoma. 


Indians is 79,021, occupying a no less number than 
47,441,480 acres of land, being a less number of inhab¬ 
itants than are contained in three counties in the State 
of Kansas, 

Formerly the Indian Territory included a great 
portion of Kansas and Kebraska. The several nations 
have had allotted to them separate districts, marked 
by treaty boundaries; and each has its own govern¬ 
ment, subject only to the eminent sovereignty of the 
United States, In fact, the several tribes are entirely 
distinctive communities. In general their civilization 
since their settlement in the Territory has been pro¬ 
gressive. They practice agriculture and many of the 
arts; some are very wealthy, and have large herds of 
cattle, ponies, and horses, to which they give but little 
care and attention, it only being necessary to round 
them up, brand, and sell once or twice a year as the 
occasion may require. In their social relations they 
have much improved under the guidance of mission¬ 
aries sent by the various religious societies. 

Their schools and academies are among the best 
institutions in the Indian Territory ; and they have 
vested funds, the interest of which they receive through 
the United States Treasury, sufficient to place the 
facilities for an education within the reach of every 
Choctaw child. They are rapidly adopting the Ameri- 


Oklahoma. 


31 


can manners, usages, and garments. The English lan¬ 
guage is taught in their schools, and it is sometimes 
spoken in their families. They have an excellent 
Choctaw translation of the entire Gospel. For their 
advancement in civilization, the tribes are much in¬ 
debted to the Christian missionaries. The schools are 
under the charge of Major J. C. Hayworth, General 
Superintendent of Indian Education for the United 
States. In his January report of 1885, speaking of his 
last year’s labor, he says “ that the Indian educa¬ 
tional institutions throughout the country are at this 
time better equipped and conducted, and are accom¬ 
plishing more toward the education of the Indians; 
than ever before. New schools at Lawrence, Kansas, 
Genoa, Newbraska; and Arkansas City—were opened 
last fall. The Lawrence school has 322 pupils and the 
Arkansas City school 180. Another large Indian 
school is located at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.” Besides 
the classical and scientific courses, all the useful arts 
are also taught. The Government has funished them 
all the latest agricultural implements, with competent 
instructors for their use. 

The Indians are fast becoming agriculturists, 
and many are large and prosperous farmers. The 
societies of Friends and Mennonites have done good 
work in the Territory, being one of the wise policies 


32 


Oklahoma. 


of Gen. U. S. Grant. The “ Cherokee Advocate ” 
is published at Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, Indian 
Territory, one side being in Indian language and the 
other in English. It has a large circulation and its 
influence is acknowledged. 








Oklahoma. 


33 


LIST OF SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS. 


Office of Board of Education, 1 
Tahlequah, C. N., Jan. 10, 1885./ 

The Primary Schools, teachers assigned, aggre¬ 
gate and average attendance of each school for the 
term ending December 19, 1884. 

TAHLEQUAH DISTRICT 


SCHOOL. 

TEACHER. 

AG. 

AV. 

Tahlequah. 

f Mrs. H. K. Fite, 1 

\ Mrs. L. M. Wilson, j 

j. 110 

63 

Tahlequah, col. 

...Fannie Jones. 

. 42 

24 

Pleasant Valley.... 

..Thos. Lyman. 

,. 31 

28 

Sequoyah. 

...E. P. Robertson. 

.. 59 

35 

Grant, col. 

..L. T. Ross. 

.. 51 

37 

Blue Spring. 

..Ola Stephens. 

,. 28 

12 

Eureka. 

...Mary Leoser. 

,. 29 

15 

Ball Hill. 

..Wm. H. Davis. 

. 38 

13 

Catcher Town. 

..Lizzie Taylor. 

. 35 

22 

Te-hee. 

..Lvdia Sixkiller. 

. 31 

19 

Lowrey’s Prairie... 

..Elnior Boudinot.. 

. 27 

15 

Four-mile Branch.. 

,..W. H. Fields. 

. 71 

38 

Caney . 

..Miss E. J. Ross. 

. 42 

21 

Crittenden. 

..Maggie Hanks. 

. 35 

14 


3— 





























34 


Oklahoma. 


GOING SNAKE DISTRICT 


Oak Grove. 


.. 45 

16 

Rabbit Trap. 


... 30 

12 

Stony Point. 


.. 23 

9 

Oak Ball. 

....T. B. Hitchcock. 

... 26 

12 

Oaks. 


... 29 

15 

Piny. 

....Frank Akin. 

... 48 

22 

Whitmire. 

....E. H. Whitmire. 

... 32 

17 

Peavine. 


... 54 

16 

Long Prairie. 


... 40 

33 

Baptist Mission.. 

....Mrs. Car. Quarles. 

... 62 

19 

Flint Creek. 


... 41 

24 

Starr Chapel. 

... Sarah Adair. 

... 34 

22 

Prairie Grove. 


... 47 

20 


FLINT DISTRICT. 



New Hope. 


... 52 

28 

Pound Spring. 


... 29 

14 

Honey Hill........ 

....John Chandler. 

... 36 

20 

Cochran . 

....W. L. Parris. 

... 38 

18 

Clear Spring. 


... 29 

15 

Dalonega. 

.Chas. Woodall. 

... 48 

20 

Magnolia. 


... 33 

16 

Elm Grove. 


... 33 

35 












































Oklahoma. 


35 


COOWEESCOOWEE DISTRICT. 


Yinita. 

( S. S. Stephens, ) 

\ Emma Breedlove, j 

113 

80 

Pryor’s Creek. 

..W. T. Sayers. 

. 21 

8 

West Point. 

.. Jounna Rogers. 

. 30 

20 

Claremore. ... 

..Bettie Smith. 

. 26 

19 

Catoosa. 

..Laura Inlow. 

. 30 

18 

Plat Pock, col. 

..J. J. Breakbill. 

. 47 . 

38 

Big Creek, “ . 

..J. T. Ewers. 

. 54 

36 

Goose Keck, “ . 

..0. S. Fox. 

. 82 

44 

Lightning C., col.. 

..C. M. Crawford. 

. 52 

36 

Sequoyah. 

..Wannie McCoy. 

. 28 

20 

Bryan’s Chapel.... 

..Mrs. Mary Wright. 

. 33 

12 

Bellview. 

..Carrie Archer. 

. 32 

17 

Lightning Creek.. 

..Wm. Carey. 

. 32 

26 

Coody’s Bluff.. 

..A. P. Edmonson. 

. 31 

17 

Three Pi vers. 

..Ellen Goree. 

. 30 

19 

Rogers. 

..Kate Timberlake, not 

reported. 

DELAWARE DISTRICT. 



Roger’s Spring. 

..Mrs. S. M. Blythe. 

. 28 

21 

Moore.. 

..C. R. Bernard. 

. 43 

20 

Carr’s Spring. 

..Ellen Morgan. 

. 46 

29 

Olymbus. 

..John Gibson. 

. 46 

28 

Sager. 

..A. F. Horris. 

. 40 

27 

Honey Creek. 

..John E. Butler. 

. 28 

16 

Hickory Grove.... 

..Geo. W. Taylor. 

. 59 

30 












































36 Oklahoma. 


Willow Spring.... 

...John E. Duncan. 

37 

26 

Ballayd. 

...W. W. Hastings. 

35 

24 

Island Ford. 

....Jno. H. Beck. 

50 

35 

Mitchell Spring... 

...S, 0. James. 

36 

29 

Beck. 

...Sue Eaton. 

31 

19 

New Town. 

...Lizzie Smith. 

17 

14 

White Water. 

...W. W. Hastings;(£aught 




only one month). 

21 

13 

Virginia . 

....Maria Sequitche, not reported. 


SALINE DISTRICT. 



Locust Grove. 

...Ella Hicks.. 

29 

12 

Arcadia. 

....Ion McCoy. 

26 

15 

Vann’s^Valley. 

....W. P. Adair. 

26 

11 

Cancauwee. 

....John Leach. 

29 

19 

Cedar Bluff.. 

....John Ross. 

30 

10 

Wickcliff. 

....Annie Terrapin. 

26 

23 

Chu-wa-staw-yah 

....Lizzie Bennett. 

22 

14 

CANADIAN DISTRICT. 



Girty. 


22 

13 

Derdinne . 

....H. L. Chubbuck. 

43 

23 

Black Jack. 

....Mrs. E. P. Vann. 

21 

12 

Woodall . 


22 

6 

Stooping Elm. 

....J. A. Sevier. 

35 

27 

Meridian. 

....II. Kinland. 

28 

8 

Prairie View. 

....J. W. Ivey. 

50 

36 

Texanna * 

* * * 

* 

* 












































Oklahoma. 


37 


SEQUOYAII DISTRICT. 


Oak Dale. 


. 24 

Te-hee. 

...Tommie Payne. 

. 24 

Sweet Town. 

...R. E. Burgess. 

. 40 

Greasy Valley. 

...Lydia H. Striker. 

. 45 

Gunter's Prairie... 

...W. 0. Bruton. 

. 23 

Timbuctoo. 

...Susie Pritchet. 

. 44 

Shiloh. 

...Geo. Johnson, not 

re-ported. 

ILLINOIS DISTRICT. 


Roach Young. 

....Z. D. Crumwell. 

. 31 

Fort Gibson. 

...Mrs. O. W. Lipe. 

. 42 

u “ col... 

...Frank Vann. 

. 65 

Garfield. 

...J. II. Hickman. 

. 32 

Manard.. /. 


. 25 

South Bethel.. .... 

...A. A. McPhee. 

. 51 

Greenleaf. 

...Chas. Puree. 

. 42 

White Oak. 

...Joseph Cookson. 

. 29 

Sweet Spring. 

...Jennie Starr. 

. 20 

Sand Town. 

...h. S. Bushey. 

. 41 

Vian. 

.;C. L. Bowden. 

. 36 


i I | • f- - 4* 1 ik »|ft 


10 

10 

22 

20 

12 

23 

0 

31 

30 

12 

12 

31 

23 

12 

12 

28 

21 





































38 


Oklahoma. 


Tim above is taken from the teachers’ reports, 
sworn to by them and endorsed by the directors. 
Those falling below the average of thirteen, under 
the law, are suspended. 

By order of the Board of Education. 

Respectfully, 

T. J. Adair, 
Secretary . 








Oklahoma. 


39 


THE CHOCTAWS. 

One of the Appalachian tribes of Indians who 
dwelt south of the Chickasaws, between the Missis¬ 
sippi and the Tombigbee Rivers, in what is now the 
central and southern portion of Mississippi and the 
western portion of Alabama. 

Dwelling on plains or among gentle hills, they ex¬ 
celled every other aboriginal tribe in their agriculture, 
and subsisted chiefly on corn, placing but little de¬ 
pendence on the chase. They were called Flats or 
Flatheads by the English and French traders, because 
all the males had the fore and hind parts of their 
skulls flattened and compressed, which was effected 
by a gentle continual pressure on the head of the 
child soon after birth. They numbered over four 
thousand warriors, and maintained their independ¬ 
ence; but allied themselves with the French, whom 
they assisted in exterminating the Natchez, and to¬ 
gether with whom they were discomfitted by the 
Chickasaw^. By a treaty negotiated in 1786 they ac¬ 
knowledged the sovereignty of the United States and 
were confirmed in the possession of their territory. 
When in 1813 a party of the Creeks, who had recently 
been visited by Tecumseh, attacked and massacred 



40 


Oklahoma. 


the occupants of Fort Mimms in Alabama, the Choc¬ 
taws volunteered to march against them with the 
Mississippi militia. In 1816 they ceded a tract of land 
in Alabama, for which they received $10,000 down 
and an annuity of $6,000 for twenty years. They 
were visited by missionaries sent by the American 
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1818, 
and began to make rapid progress in agriculture and 
some of the mechanical arts, and in raising cotton and 
manufacturing it into cloth and garments. The Gov- 
ernment received a cession of land from them in 1880, 
and, in 1837, under convention with their kinfolks, 
the Chickasaws, they ceded their remaining lands— 
7,000,000 acres—which were in Mississippi. The 
whole amount of land which they have ceded to the 
National and State governments is 19,934,400 acres, 
for which they have received in exchange 20,030,912 
acres of land in the Indian Territory, on which they 
now reside, and $2,228,730 in money and goods. 

This trade by the Government was perhaps all 
right at that time, but very profitable to the Indians, 
as they transferred their Mississippi swamps for a 
most beautiful and fertile country; and no one disputes 
their vested rights to their 133,000 acres of land per 
capita. 

The Chickasaws having become in most respect^ 


Oklahoma. 


41 


an incorporate portion of the Choctaw tribe, they 
moved together prior to 1839, under officers appointed 
by the Federal Government, to a tract of land in the 
south-western part of the Indian Territory, bounded 
on the north by the lands of the Creeks and Cherokees, 
on the east by Arkansas, and on the south and south¬ 
west by Texas. Their country is divided into four 
districts, their principal settlement being in the east¬ 
ern district, named Apucksha Nubbe. They are gov¬ 
erned by a written constitution, elect their chief for 
four years, and have a regularly organized judiciary, 
with trial by jury and an appeal to the supreme 
court. They are industrious, frugal, and are making 
progress in those arts which are the basis of a civilized 
and prosperous community. They raise the cereals, 
grain,"- cotton, horses, and cattle, and possess mills, 
good dwellings, and highways made according to 
legal enactments; spinning and weaving and many of 
the minor manufactures and mechanical arts have 
been introduced among them. Their capital is Tah- 
lequah. Vinita, Tulsa, Muscogee, Ohlequah, Adair, 
Chetoah, are among the important towns in the In¬ 
dian Territory. 


42 


Oklahoma. 


The following will show one of the instructions 
from the executive department of justice : 

(copy.) 

“ INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO SHERIFFS. 

Executive Department, C. N., 1 
, November 11, 1884. J 

“ To the .Sheriffs of the Several Districts — Greeting : 

In discharging the duty imposed upon you by the 
law and Constitution, as instructed thereon by this 
Department, for the removal of obstructions to the 
use, by citizens of this Nation^ of the common do¬ 
main that is uncultivated, you are instructed further 
to give (if not already given) reasonable notification 
to all citizens residing within your respective districts, 
to remove all fencing or other obstructions to the free 
use of such domain by the Cherokee people, except 
the quantity allowed by law to be enclosed by each, 
viz., fifty acres. 

“ In all cases when it shall become necessary for 
you to act, you will remove such obstructions where 
more than fifty acres continue to remain enclosed, after 
such due notice shall have been given. 

“ Should fraudulent attempts be made to enclose 
more than (50) fifty acres of the unimproved domain, 
by the cultivation of patches or fields divided from 
each other by tracts of unbroken land within the same 
enclosure, you will give special notice, and allow 
reasonable and sufficient time, in your judgment, for 
the removal of the unlawful fencing, so that it may, if 
practicable, include such patches or fields, together 
with the fifty acres of native pasture land, before you 
proceed to enforce the law applicable to the case. 
Any losses growing out of the defeat of such fraudu¬ 
lent attempts pk monopoly are not expected to be 


Oklahoma. 


43 


adjudged to be borne by the Nation. Any citizen, 
however, who may consider himself aggrieved by the 
acts of any other citizen is given the right to appeal 
to the proper courts for remedy. Should any citizen 
consider himself injured or aggrieved by the willful 
misconduct of an officer in the way of neglecting or 
exceeding the exercise of bis authority, such citizen is 
authorized by law to complain to this Department; 
but not otherwise than in pursuance of law regulating 
the manner of charging officers with malfeasance. 

November 11, 1884. 

[Signed.] D. W. Bushyhead, 

Principal Chief.” 

The Indian Territory is drained by the Arkansas 
and Red Rivers and their tributaries. Both have 
their sources in the Rocky Mountains, and, after an 
easterly course—the first through and the latter along 
the south boundary of the Territory—flow directly 
into the Mississippi. These rivers are navigable for 
steamboats for an uncertain distance, and many of 
their tributaries are streams of considerable size and 
admit of being navigated by boats of light draft. 
With the exception of the Washita Hills in the south¬ 
west and the Ozark Plateau, there are few irregulari¬ 
ties of surface, particularly through the Oklahoma 
country, but there is a general declination eastward, 
in which direction the rivers flow. Otherwise the 
whole country spreads out into vast undulating plains, 
abundantly by innumerable streams, jm4 }}\ 


44 


Oklahoma. 


many parts possessed of inexhaustible fertility. The 
climate is mild and salubrious, and, though compara¬ 
tively cold in winter, is eminently fitted for agricult¬ 
ural purposes. On the border of the streams timber 
is found in abundance, and between longitude 97° and 
98° a narrow strip of timber called “ Cross-timbers ” 
stretches from the Arkansas south and south-west into 
Texas. Eastward of these the whole country is arable. 
To the west are elevated and sterile prairies, scantily 
covered with grass, and producing only a few stunted 
shrubs, yuccas, cactus, grape-vines, and cucurbita- 
ceous plants. 

Vast herds of buffalo formerly roamed over these 
plains, and in the western part there are now deer and 
other animals, the hunting of which is the favorite 
sport of the white men as well as the Indians. Large 
parties are made up from all parts of the country each 
fall and winter—from Chicago, New York, Philadel¬ 
phia, Baltimore, as well as the immediate surrounding 
country. We could refer to such persons in Chicago as 
James P. Core, Charles C. Felton, Ceo. G. Newberry, 
Edward Taylor, Charles T. Tyrrell, Dr. A. J. Baxter, 
Gen. I. N. Stiles, and others who are all well-known 
business and professional men, who never have re¬ 
turned from the Indian Territory without fit least pp^ 
oar-load of the various kinds pf gftme f.innd so pler,^ 


Oklahoma. 


45 


fully in these favorite hunting-grounds. The game 
served at the celebrated game dinners given by J ohn B. 
Drake & Co., of the grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago, has 
of late years been largely received from the Indian 
Territory and Oklahoma country. 

In the eastern portion of the Indian Territory 
the Missouri Pacific Railroad leaves the Kansas State 
line at Chetopa, Labette County, Kansas, and runs 
south-westerly to Denison, Texas, passing through the 
Cherokees and Creek country and Choctaw nation. 
Leaving the Missouri State line at Modocs, Kewton 
County, the Atlantic & Pacific and St. Louis & San 
Francisco Railroads run south-west to the Red Fork 
of the Arkansas River, with the intention of extend¬ 
ing through the entire Indian Territory and the Ok¬ 
lahoma country. In the Choctaw country there are 
considerable mountains, with numerous streams and 
valleys. Their lands were ceded to them June 22, 
1855 (Vol. 2, page 611). While in the Creek country 
on the east there are but few mountains, but con¬ 
siderable rough land ; their lands were ceded to them 
February 14, 1833 (Vol. 7, page 417). The Cherokee 
country is rolling, and has also considerable rough 
land, with the divides covered with jack-oaks, and 
many of the valleys with heavy timber; their lands 
were ceded to them February 14, 1833 (Yol. 7, page 


46 


Oklahoma. 


414), and July 19, 1866 (Vol. 4, page 799). The Osage 
country, on the west, is adapted for agricultural and 
grazing purposes; their lands were ceded to them 
July 19, 1866 (Vol. 1, page 804). In the south and 
central portion of the Territory is the Chickasaw 
country, containing some of the finest agricultural 
lands in the world ; their lands were ceded to them 
June 22, 1855 (Yol. 2, page 611). Upon the west 
are the Kiowas, Comanches, and Apaches; their 
lands were ceded to them October 21, 1867 (Yol. 15, 
pages 581 and 598). On the north are the Wichitas ; 
they hold by unratified agreement, October 19, 1872. 
And on the west and north are the Cheyennes and 
Arapahoes by Executive order, August 10, 1869. 

In the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache country 
are situated Fort Sill and Wichita Mountains. In the 
Arbuckle Mountains, of the Chickasaw nation, there 
are numerous oil springs, and mica of the finest qual¬ 
ity is seen towering hundreds of feet high, and spark¬ 
ling in the sunlight like the towers of Jerusalem. 

“ If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright, 

Go visit it by the pale moonlight.” 

In the mountains the wild bees are found in such 
numbers that they are sometimes called “ Wild-Honey 
Mountains.” One party has been known to locate 
and mark twenty-eight bee-trees in one day. Abun- 


UNCLE SAM FEEDING “ POOR LO ” INDIAN. 





















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































. 






















*- 







































« 

























































Oklahoma. 


47 


dance of building-stone is found here, as well as all 
over the Territory. Throughout this region can also 
be found abundance of red-cedar timber. The 
numerous oil springs along the caddos, on the south 
side of these mountains, spring out of the ground 
and flow upon the waters below, establishing the fact 
almost beyond question that petroleum can be found 
in abundance. Gold and silver have been found in 
small quantities in these and the Wichita Mountains. 
There are numerous other springs, such as copperas, 
sulphur, and iron springs. To the south-east, some 
twenty miles, are the “ Bob Love” oil springs, which 
are quite noted as a health resort for Northern 
Texas. In the Cheyenne and Arapahoe country Fort 
Reno is located. To the extreme north and north-west, 
upon the Public-land Strip, are Camp Supply, salt 
marshes, and Cimarron River. And to the east 
is the Great Salt Plain, on the Salt Fork 
of the Arkansas River. This Great Salt Plain 
(so called) comprises thousands of acres of land. The 
salt is formed upon the surface of the ground and 
along the edge of the streams. There are vast fields 
of beautiful, crystallized salt, which greet the eye of 
the traveler for miles before reaching them. The 
sun shining upon it nearly blinds man and beast as 
they approach it. It would appear as if there was salt 


48 


Oklahoma. 


enough for the world, which can be had to-day for 
the mere cost of handling and hauling it. It is used 
very extensively on all the cattle-ranges. It forms in 
cakes as large as a wagon-box, which is broken up to 
facilitate the handling. In wet weather and high water 
there is little or no salt to be seen, but with three or 
four dry days it appears again upon the surface as be¬ 
fore described, from six inches to one foot thick. It is 
fine in quality and of the greatest strength ; and after 
being shoveled into wagons, is hauled to towns along 
the border of Southern Kansas and sold. It will in 
course of time become the greatest supply-point for 
salt in the United States. 

At these Salt Plains, Lieut. Du Tisne, from the 
French garrison at Kaskaskia, raised the French flag 
September 27, 1719, and took possession of the coun¬ 
try in. the name of his king. He was the first white 
man to enter the Oklahoma country from the east. 

If the glaring frauds, the vile and corrupt 
schemes of the monopolies who hold millions of dol¬ 
lars’ worth of property in the Indian Territory, upon 
which they pay not a dollar’s worth of taxes, could be 
exposed, it would furnish sufficient material to write 
another history. There never was a more open and 
glaring swindle upon the face of the American con¬ 
tinent. It is in the interest of the rich to enrich the 


Oklahoma. 


49 


rich, and all efforts by petition after petition to the 
capital at Washington, D. C., though sent to our 
representative, seems to be lost in oblivion when 
they reach there. They simply lie on file in the office 
of the Interior Department and there remain. In 
the meantime the poor home-seeker is thrust aside 
by the cold heart of these cattle-kings and their 
partners at Washington, and, when requested, the 
United States army is at their command. 

The reader can readily see where the poor Indian 
comes in. Cattle-kings own millions of dollars’ worth 
of property, pay no taxes, and lease their lands at 
two cents per acre. 

Now the people, the tax-payers, have tolerated 
this injustice and flagrant swindle until the whole 
country has risen up and declared that the rights of 
those to whom it belongs shall he protected. 

President Arthur’s proclamation has no doubt 
delayed the settlement of Oklahoma, but it has only 
increased the demand for a final settlement of these 
lands, and the Government will be forced to recon¬ 
sider its whole Indian policy. If this matter had 
been settled fouryearsago by a decision in the courts, 
the question would not have been raised as to other 
lands than those included in the Oklahoma district. 
The pressure will be steady and grow in strength and 

4 - 


50 


Oklahoma. 


determination to compel a final settlement of this 
whole Indian question. The public will not permit 
millions of acres of land to be gobbled up by the mo¬ 
nopolists of the country, nor tolerate their protection 
by the administration, without the utmost certainty 
of law. 



Oklahoma, 


51 


PUBLIC-LAND STRIP. 


The following is a recent report of Thomas Don¬ 
aldson, one of the Land Commission on the public 
domain, regarding the Public-Land Strip. 

“ The ‘Public-land Strip/ or unoccupied public 
lands west of Indian Territory and south of Kan¬ 
sas, is a part of the territory ceded to the United 
States by the State of Texas in 1850. The area of 
the ‘ Public-land Strip’ is estimated at 5,740 square 
miles—equal to 3,673,600 acres. It is not attached to 
any judicial district. The only legislative action in 
regard to it is some incomplete measures, one of 
which was Bill S. No. 1648, Forty-fifth Congress, 
third session, providing for the survey and sale of 
said lands; also Bill S. No. 1783, Forty-sixth Con¬ 
gress, second session, granting to the Commissioner 
of the General Land-office general authority to sur¬ 
vey public lands of the United States, islands, etc., 
neither of which measures have resulted in law. 

“ This territory remains unsurveyed and unoc¬ 
cupied. It is public domain, but the land laws have 
not as yet been extended over it for survey, sale, and 
disposition. 

“ Settlers are commencing to enter this territory, 
and means should be provided by which they may be 
enabled to secure titles under the public-land laws, and 
also to be protected in person and property by the 
laws of the land. The territory is not at present at¬ 
tached to any judicial district. In my last annual 
report I recommended that it be attached to the sur¬ 
veying district of New Mexico for the purpose of sub- 



52 


Oklahoma. 


divisional township surveys and the disposal of the 
land. The land is, however, nearer the recently es¬ 
tablished south-western land district in the State of 
Kansas, and it would be more convenient for settlers 
to make their entries at Garden City, in that district, 
than at the Santa Fe land-office in New Mexico. I 
recommend, therefore, the attachment of this public- 
land strip to the south-western land district in Kan¬ 
sas; and as there is no surveyor-general in Kansas, 
also recommend that authority be given the Secretary 
of the Interior to cause the subdivisional surveys to 
be made under the general appropriation for the sur¬ 
veying service. 

44 By the act of Congress, approved March 3,1881, 
making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of 
the Government for the year ending June 30, 1882, 
there was appropriated the sum of $18,000 for the 
survey of 4 correction lines, guide meridians, and 
township lines in the strip of public lands north of 
Texas and bounded on the north by the States of Col¬ 
orado and Kansas.’ Under this act a contract was 
made with deputy-surveyors, August 26, 1881, by the 
Commissioner of the General Land-office. The re¬ 
turns of these surveys were made direct to the Gen¬ 
eral Land-office. In his report for 1882 the Com¬ 
missioner of the General Land-office recommends 
4 the passage of an act to provide for attaching the 
lands to the Territory of New Mexico for the purpose 
of subdivisional surveys under the United States Sur¬ 
veyor-General and the disposal of lands thereafter at 
the United States Land-office in that Territory.’” 

The miners flocked into the Black Hills and took 
possession by the force of numbers. There were no 
syndicates in the Black Hills,as there are in the Okla- 


Oklahoma. 


53 


homa country, to inspire the authorities at Washing¬ 
ton to protect the Indians in their rights. The Black 
Hills were the undisputed property of the Indians, 
but the Government permitted its subjects to take 
forcible and violent possession of it in open and 
vicious violation of treaty stipulations. If there had 
been a syndicate of cattle-men and government offi¬ 
cials in the Black Hills, it would have been pro¬ 
tected—not the Sioux Indians, but the syndicate—if 
it had taken the military force of the nation; and it is 
the syndicates,and not the Indians, that are being pro¬ 
tected in the Indian Territory to-day. In the Black 
Hills it was a contest between the robbers and the 
Indians, and the Government espoused the side of the 
robbers. In the case of Oklahoma land, it is a contest 
between the poor home-seeker and the monopolist. 
The Government espouses the cause of the monopolist, 
on the flimsy pretense that the lands are held for 
specific purposes under the purchase from the Indians, 
in the face of the fact that Congress has decided that 
that specific purpose shall not be carried out. 

In the Oklahoma country there is a strong syndi¬ 
cate, backed by the Government against the rights of 
its humble but respectable citizens crying only for 
homes for themselves and families. In the Black Hills 
case there was no question as to the rights of the Sioux 


54 


Oklahoma. 


to their reservation. In the Oklahoma case the 
Government has been oscillating. There is no doubt 
of the right of the settlers to occupy it as public land, 
Had the Sioux been backed by a syndicate of traders, 
cattle-kings, and congressional speculators,the power¬ 
ful hand of the Government would have prevented the 
invasion of their reservation by the shadow of the 
stars and stripes. 

The cattle-kings, the land-gobblers, and their fol¬ 
lowers must go. Oklahoma shall he the home of the 
free, where, almost at the doors of the capitalist and 
the poor man, lies a country whose native richness 
invites, whose fertility will reward the honest farmer 
with abundant harvest, whose genial climate invigo¬ 
rates and promises long life at small cost to man, and 
succulent grasses for his cattle,almost the year round. 

Throughout the temperate zones of earth the 
cereal-producing and grazing lands are daily becom¬ 
ing more sought after, and difficult to obtain by the 
poor man. A glance at the map of that portion of the 
world which has been occupied by the ever-constant 
westward advance of the Anglo-Saxon race shows 
that but little is left on the Western Hemisphere 
but high mountainous regions. The valleys are all 
occupied, and sending out their swarms of surplus 
people, who with the “ Star of Empire ” have reached 


Oklahoma. 


55 


the Pacific coast; and they are again returning to the 
east, anxiously asking for homes. Large colonies 
settle down upon thousands of acres in a day—and still 
they come. 

Through the foreign emigrant'agencies and solic¬ 
itors for railroad companies who have large land grants 
which they are desirous of disposing of in large bodies, 
and the Morman missionaries who search every cor¬ 
ner of the earth for proselytes to build up their Zion— 
and has already spread over the greater portion of 
these territories, threatening the very fundamental 
principles of our Government with their lepers and 
leprous doctrines—is it not fully time for the intelli¬ 
gent American citizen to demand more economy 
concerning his birth rights. 

Our Democratic benevolence should not extend to 
that extreme which will menace the welfare of the 
most valuable portion of our people. We would not 
discourage or prohibit emigration from the civilized 
nations of the Old World, but the supply of public- 
lands is not now so great as formerly ; and we have in 
our midst two hundred and fifty thousand Indians 
under the protection of “ Uncle Sam,” to whom there 
has been allotted millions of acres of our choicest and 
most fertile lands. 

Millions of acres of agricultural and pasture 


56 


Oklahoma. 


lands, not only in the Indian Territory, but outside 
of it, are occupied and controlled by a “ favored 
few” white men in various ways, either under straw- 
leases, as beef-contractors, post-traders, squaw-men, 
or cattle-owners, paying no taxes on the millions of 
property they hold, and who gather about them an 
army of outlaws and desperadoes who are ready to 
execute their orders at a moment’s warning. 

The day is near at hand when this state of things 
will no longer be tolerated. David L. Payne, that 
noble martyr, has been persecuted to his death by 
these outlaws in his repeated attempts to settle upon 
the Government lands in the Indian Territory, hav¬ 
ing five different times been arrested, driven out, and 
then turned loose—each time demanding a trial in 
the courts, and as often refused, until within the last 
few months they have decided that he was guilty of 
no crime. Congress has been petitioned and memo¬ 
rialized time and again, but the power of the “ fa¬ 
vored few” is still hindering and delaying the honest 
and bona-fide home-seeker. 

In the extreme liberality of our Government in 
bestowing her public lands, the throwing wide open 
her doors to the whole world, the large donations to 
corporations for various purposes, and the unreason¬ 
ably large tracts of land held for Indian reservations^ 



* 








































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


57 


we are suddenly confronted with the fact that this 
country can not much longer say to the outside 
world that she has homes for the homeless and land 
for the landless for the people of all nations of the 
world. The extreme folly of holding millions of 
acres of land for Indian reservations—and used by 
corporations—which, if divided per capita , would 
make each individual the owner of a township 
of land, is a farce that has been tolerated long enough 
among onr homeless people. Fed, clothed, and edu¬ 
cated by the Government as the Indians are, and 
grouped together in small communities, they have no 
use for these lands beyond 160 acres each,which should 
be reserved for them until the time when they 
shall he sufficiently educated and civilized to appre¬ 
ciate the value of their freehold; and all that in 
reason could be asked for them is that they 
be placed upon an equal footing with the white man. 
These vast tracts of land are seldom visited by the 
tribes to whom they have been allotted, and are now the 
homes of the outlaw and cattle-kings, the latter reap¬ 
ing millions annually from their usurped privileges, 
which they have so long enjoyed that they now 
ride rough-shod over those who are not strong 
enough to oppose or compromise with them, holding 
as they are in the Indian Territory more than forty 


58 


Oklahoma. 


millions acres of the best corn, wheat, and cotton 
land in the world, and capable of sustaining a popu¬ 
lation of five millions inhabitants. If the plow was 
introduced and the land cultivated, it would temper the 
winds from the gulf, and assure with more certainty 
the crops in the corn-growing country in Kansas and 
Nebraska. 

New elements are enforcing a change of things in 
the old buffalo-ranges of the West. It was hut a few 
years ago that the buffalo-grass grew upon the banks 
of the Missouri Kiver; and year after year it has re¬ 
ceded gradually at the rate of twenty miles a year, 
with the blue-stem following upon its retreat, until 
now it is nearly three hundred miles from the Mis¬ 
souri Kiver to where the buffalo-grass is found. 

This change is now taking place in the Indian 
Territory, and must put an end to the inhuman prac¬ 
tice of wintering domestic animals upon buffalo-grass 
without preparing sufficient food and shelter. The 
Long-horn Texan scalawag must give place to the 
beautiful Short-horn ; and within the next twenty- 
five years Southern Kansas, Northern Texas, and the 
Indian Territory will be the greatest beef-producing 
country on the face of the globe. 

Let the people take the matter in hand and stop 
these long-time leases to that class of men who have 


Oklahoma. 


59 


control of it, whose only ambition is to produce a beef 
animal that is akin to the wild antelope and buffalo. 
There is a concert of action among the Texas cattle¬ 
men upon what they are pleased to call a “ National 
Trail” to establish a cattle-trail from Texas to the 
British Possessions, and they have a bill already pre¬ 
pared for that purpose, backed by a strong lobby 
force. It provides that the Secretary of the Interior 
shall appoint three commissioners to lay out by meets 
and bounds a trail and grazing-grounds, the trail not 
to exceed six miles in width and to narrow to a sim¬ 
ple roadway in places. Grazing-grounds are to be 
established at intervals, not exceeding twelve miles 
square. When the commissioners make their report, 
the Secretary of the Interior is to file a map of the 
trail as laid out, and give public notice of its estab¬ 
lishment; and the withdrawal of public lands contained 
in it from either sale, location, or settlement for a 
term of ten years. When this publication is made 
the trail is to be open at all times of the year for the 
driving of live stock by any firm, person, or corpora¬ 
tion. 

In view of the fact that the central portion of the 
Indian Territory is soon to be occupied, the people 
should demand of their representatives in Congress 
that they oppose such bill as would allow a trail 


60 


Oklahoma. 


to go through the very heart of the Oklahoma country 
and cripple its progress for, at least, ten years. 
Such a trail as this would spread Spanish fever most 
effectually through the entire country; and it is to he 
hoped that the legislatures of Kansas and Colorado 
will investigate it, and pass such legislation as to 
effectually squelch it. 

The grandest exhibition of “gall” that has been 
brought to public notice recently is the attempt of the 
cattle-men to smuggle a bill through Congress to give 
them the exclusive control of the public domain, for 
their own exclusive use and enjoyment. These 
companies are composed principally as follows : The 
Prairie Cattle Company, a Scotch outfit, occupying one 
million of acres in Colorado; the Carlysle Cattle 
Company (English), with general offices in London ; 
the Wyoming Cattle Company (Scotch), head office 
in Edinburgh. The Marquis of Mores has upwards of 
two millions of acres enclosed with a good wire fence 
in Dakota Territory, all of which is Government land. 
In the Territory of Wyoming alone there are 125 
corporations that have mostly enclosed their pastures; 
and in numerous instances where native-born Ameri¬ 
can citizens have settled before and after these en¬ 
closures have been made, they have been driven out 
and their improvements appropriated by the foreign- 


ENGLISH RANCH IN OKLAHOMA. 




















































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


61 


ers making these enclosures. And these nabobs are so 
serene and have so little fear of Government officials 
that they will fence up a mail route often, to the great 
annoyance of the United States mail service. There is 
not another nation on the face of the earth that would 
permit such outrages as are being perpetrated on 
these lands, especially by foreign trespassers. It is 
only when we see a few helpless and homeless native- 
born farmers and mechanics desirous of occupying 
one hundred and sixty acres each, that the strength 
of the Government is invoked to evict them. Due 
notice is hereby given to our so-called representatives 
in Congress, at Washington, that we, the sovereign 
people, who live in close proximity to where these 
glaring impositions are practiced, have endured tiiem 
as long as we can We weep bitterly to see the old 
flag borne by hands that are in sympathy w:tn the 
settlers, but are bound to obey the orders of brainless 
superiors. 

The third article of the treaty of 1866 with the 
Creek Indians (14 Stat. page 786) provides that 
“In compliance with the desire of the United States 
to locate their Indians and freed-men thereon, the 
Creeks hereby cede and convey to the United States, 
to. be sold to and used as homes for such other civil¬ 
ized Indians as the United States may choose to 


62 


Oklahoma. 


settle thereon, the west half of their entire domain, to 
be divided by a line running north and south.” And 
now what a wonderful crime some of our people see 
in Congress giving this country to civilized people 
other than civilized Indians ? It has never been held 
in Congress that they were obliged to settle this coun¬ 
try with civilized Indians. Oh, no, they have even 
so far departed from that policy as to propose to set¬ 
tle it with freed-men; also have granted large bodies 
of land to railroad companies. What would be the 
result if the Creek Indians had the power to compel 
the United States to carry out to the letter the stip¬ 
ulations of that treaty ? Where are they to get the 
Indians, either civilized or uncivilized ? The supply 
is not within their reach, unless they could import 
them from the British Dominions ; and even then, 
after procuring all the Indians under her Majesty’s 
protection, there would be millions of acres of unset¬ 
tled land in the Indian Territory. 

It is a well-known fact that the Indians are favor¬ 
able to the settlement of the lands by the whites, and 
that they claim no interest whatever in Oklahoma, 
and would much prefer seeing it settled by white 
men than by negroes or strange Indian tribes. We 
ask again, where are the Indians to come from ? What 
Indians are destitute of homes? So anxious hav§ 


Oklahoma. 


63 


some philanthropists become that they have attempted 
to have this Oklahoma country occupied by Indians, 
and have made repeated attempts to get some small 
remnants of tribes to extend their territory so as to 
embrace the entire Oklahoma country. Among those 
that have been solicited to extend their already large 
dominions are the Poncas, Nez Perces, Iowas, and 
Kickapoos. The entire numerical force of these four 
tribes is not equal to the Johnsons and Smiths in 
a single county in some States. So if some band of 
Indians, numbering all told fifty souls, could get this 
country allotted to them, it would be received as per¬ 
fectly right and just by the average New England 
Congressman and the favored few who happen to be 
related to the military or civil branches of our Gov¬ 
ernment. They would proceed at once to get a post- 
trader’s permit and a ten-year lease, and in a # short 
time would be comfortably fixed, with an army to 
guard them, a quarter-master’s department to feed 
them, and Government mules to transport them, and 
thus enjoy their lovely herds upon a thousand hills 
and among the beautiful valleys, with no taxes to pay. 
What can be more serene? What can be more 
lovely ? 


64 


Oklahoma. 


THE ROUTE TO OKLAHOMA AND ITS BOUND¬ 
ARIES. 

In the earlier days the Oklahoma colonists were 
accustomed to leave the State of Kansas at Coffeyville, 
in Montgomery County ; later at Hunnewell and 
Caldwell, in Sumner County, Kansas. But the newest 
and most practical route is from Arkansas City, in 
Cowley County, at the terminus of the A., T. & S. F. 
Railroad, south of Wichita, the distance from Ar¬ 
kansas City and Hunnewell to Olkahoma City being 
about the same. 

In order to give the boundaries of the Oklahoma 
country proper, and as a starting-point, we will com¬ 
mence at the north-west corner of the Creek nation, 
thence due west about one hundred miles to the Red 
Fork of the Cimarron River, and sixty miles south 
from the Kansas State line and west of the $8° of lon°*i- 
tude, west from Greenwich, and on the 180th merid¬ 
ian; thence in a south-easterly course along the 
meanderings of said river to the 98° of longitude ; 
thence due south to a point on the north side of the 
Canadian River; thence in a south-easterly course along 
the meanderings of said river to the Indian meridian ; 
thence due north on the Indian meridian to the North 




SCOTTISH RANCH IN OKLAHOMA. 






























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


65 


Fork of the Canadian Fiver; thence south-easterly 
along the meanderings of said river to the west line 
of the Sac and Fox reservation; thence due north to 
the Fed Fork of Cimarron Fiver; thence north¬ 
easterly along the meanderings of said river to the 
west line of the Creek nation; thence north to the 
place of beginning. 

These boundaries contain the lands that belong to 
the Oklahoma country—to which there are no disputed 
rights, except as public lands—and contains about 
14,000,000 acres of land. 

The ICickapoo and Iowas,by an Executive order, 
August 15, 1883, had a reservation set off to them 
from what is claimed as Oklahoma land, which they 
have leased to cattle-men. The cattle-men, interced¬ 
ing through their usual course, procured at Washing¬ 
ton these reservations in the name of the Indians, but 
iu fact for their own use and benefit. These reserva¬ 
tions contain about 108 square miles, or 69,120 acres 
of fine land, and well watered. It is the same with 
the lands occupied by the Nez Perces, Poncas, Otoes, 
and the Missourias, which can be seen by glancing at 
the map of the Indian Territory, that it is the balance 
of the Oklahoma country that these cattle monopo¬ 
lists are seeking to set aside for Indian reservations 


66 


Oklahoma. 


that is causing all the delay in opening up Oklahoma 
for settlement. 

The trail from Arkansas City leads in a south¬ 
westerly direction about twenty miles, thence south 
through the Nez Perce reservation on the Salt Fork 
of Cimarron Kiver, thence through the ceded lands of 
the Cherokee nation, running along a divide to the 
north line of Oklahoma proper. The country is in¬ 
viting. It has numerous streams, hills, and valleys, 
and large tracts of timber. Its beautiful site on a 
gentle, symmetrical eminence overlooks the wooded 
bottom-lands of the valley beyond for miles. The 
delicate wild flowers grow in the open air. Roses, 
fuchsias, and heliotropes often gladden the eye at 
Christmas and F"e.w-y ear’s. The earliest traveler 
through this country, Don Diego Dionisio de Penalosa ? 
who traveled from Santa Fe to the Arkansas River in 
1662, on March 6th of that year thus describes it: 

“Through pleasing, peaceful, and most fertile 
fields, that in all the Indies of Peru and JNfew Spain, 
nor in Europe, have any such been seen so pleasant 
and delightful, and covered with buffalo or cows of 
Cibola, which caused notable admiration. The fur¬ 
ther we entered the country the greater was the num¬ 
ber, with many and very beautiful rivers, marshes, 
and springs, studded with luxuriant forests and fruit- 
trees of various kinds, which produce most palatable 
plums, large and fine grapes in great clusters and of 
extremely good flavor ? like those of Spain, and even 


Oklahoma. 


67 


better. Many mulberry-trees to raise silk, oak, ever¬ 
green oak, elm, ash, and poplar trees, with other 
kinds of trees, with useful and fragrant plants, clover, 
flax, hemp, marjoram high enough to hide a man on 
horseback, abundance of roses, strawberries without 
end, small but savory, many Castilian partridges, 
quails, turkeys, sandpipers, pheasants, deer, stags or 
elk in very great numbers, and even one kind of them 
as large and developed as our horses. Through these 
pleasant and most fertile fields we marched during 
the months of March, April, May, and the kalends of 
June, and arrived at a large river which they called 
Mischipi.” 

Upon the divides is not the best of agricultural 
lands; but it is covered with bunch-grass, which grows 
luxuriantly and lies in great profusion all over the 
ridges, and cattle are seen grazing in all directions. 
On these divides the face of the country is broken 
and scarce of timber,, making a region particularly 
adapted to raising sheep, an industry that has 
reached immense proportions throughout Southern 
Kansas and Texas; and, owing to the mild climate, 
good water, and the self-cured buucli-grass, it is 
claimed by old sheep-growers to be the best sheep¬ 
raising country in the world. 

One of the many streams is Beaver Creek. There 
is a good camping-ground. The stream has a deep 
channel and very precipitous banks, with clear and 
pure water; and one can see the perch and sunfish at 


68 


Oklahoma. 


a depth of four or five feet in this stream, which 
abounds in fish. The banks of this stream are so 
high that crossing with wagons is only effected by 
the use of ropes in roping the wagons down its steep 
banks. From this point the trail angles around Ce¬ 
dar canyon, a deep gorge that empties into the Cim¬ 
arron River. And in traveling along this trail you pass 
through in the midst of the black-jack or jack- 
oak hills, a thick jungle of small, stunted oak-trees, 
with many branches spreading out in every direction, 
and covering thousands of acres of uplands, covered 
in the fall with acorns or mast, forming an almost 
impassable barrier to man and beast, though abound¬ 
ing in bear, deer, elk, and other game. There is also a 
a feature pertaining to these black-jack lands which 
seems strange to one unacquainted with the charac¬ 
ter of the country, and that is, the soil is of a soft 
and alluvial nature, reddish color, and can be dis¬ 
turbed with the foot as easily as a bed of sand. It is 
from these black-jack regions that the timberless 
country of Southern Kansas has drawn its supply of 
wood and fuel for many years past. Following this 
trail for a distance of about five miles you come to 
Payne’s Ford, upon the Cimarron River. The water 
of this river is salty, coming as it does, from the salt 
basins lying in the north-west part of the Territory. 


Oklahoma. 


69 


It is without banks in a great many places, and low 
banks in others. It is about five hundred feet in 
width and from one to three feet in depth, and simi¬ 
lar, in many respects, to the Arkansas. Upon this 
river are found, during the winter season, myriads of 
wild geese and ducks. Then, passing along about 
two miles further, you come to a fine spring of water 
among the cedar groves, and which is a very desira¬ 
ble camping'place—around which can be found un¬ 
usual quantities of game. Deer and turkey are un- 
merous ; while small game, such as grouse and quail, 
can be found in the greatest quantities. 

Then as you advance the timber grows larger 
and of a better quality, until you come to Council 
Creek, a nice little stream fed by springs. Soon after 
leaving this place you begin to descend along the 
valley of a small stream, a tributary of the Canadian 
River. The country from here to the Canadian River 
is grand and picturesque, possessing all the advan¬ 
tages of good water, rich bottoms, and fine, large tim¬ 
ber—such as white-oak, ash, hickory, walnut, etc. 
Continuing on you cross the Deep Fork, the banks 
of which are very high and the stream narrow. The 
valley of the Deep Fork is very wide, and soil rich 
and fertile, with a most luxuriant growth of blue-stem 
grass. Crossing over the divide you come within 


70 


Oklahoma. 


sight of the Canadian liiver. The scene is most 
magnificent, and is greeted by the colonists with glad¬ 
ness and a spontaneous cheer that should be heard 
in Washington. 

For miles through dense, hilly forests, then you 
strike the rich, billowy prairie—indeed a “ beautiful 
meadow,” as the Indian word signifies. 

“ Stretching in airy undulations far away, 

As if the ocean in its quietest swell 
Stood still, with all his rounded billows 
Fixed and motionless forever.” 

Bryant describes with exactness the rolling prai¬ 
rie. It is like a swelling sea over which a magician’s 
wand has stretched, transforming it instantly, and 
holding it in bondage evermore. 

Glancing over thousands of acres covered with 
tall grass and dotted with groves, it appears the per¬ 
fect counterfeit of cultivated fields and orchards. 
One can hardly persuade himself that he is not 
scouring a long-settled country, whose inhabitants 
have suddenly disappeared, taking with them houses 
and barns, and leaving only the rich pastures and 
hay-fields. Wagon-roads, revealing the jet-black 
soil, intersect the deep green of graceful slopes, 
where moves tall prairie-grass with wild fiowers of 
blue, purple, and yellow. Hundreds of acres of these 


Oklahoma. 


71 


blossoms predominate, making the earth blue or yel¬ 
low instead of green. In the spring bloom the 
flowers of modest, delicate hues; in late summer 
those of a deep, gorgeous color flame; and in early 
autumn nature revels in beauty for beauty’s sake 
alone. 

Stretching away as far as the eye can reach lies 
a level and most beautiful plain, covered with thick 
growth of vegetation and fragrant flowers, nude of 
timber or brush, and ready for the plow, until you 
reach the river-banks, which are skirted with large, 
fine, and straight timber, consisting of walnut, oak, 
ash, beech, hackberry, hickory, etc. The soil is 
black and loamy, and of so arable nature that two 
horses can plough it with the greatest ease. It seems 
like a dream to stand and view the landscape o’er. 
The enchantment of the place is inspiring. It is 
Oklahoma ! Here is the Mecca where the long-suf¬ 
fering and struggling pilgrims have tended. The 
whole country up and down the Canadian River is 
instantly recognized by the tired and weary home- 
seeker as the promised land he so long has sought. 

On the Canadian River there will be a great 
wine-producing country, not excelled by California. 
There are millions of acres that are well adapted to 
vine-growing, or more than double the area of all 


72 


Oklahoma. 


the vineyards of France. The mellow lines of Long¬ 
fellow are ...of merely the poet’s fancy, but literal 
truth: 

“ For richest and best 
Are the wines of the West 
That grow by the beautiful river.” 

The next generation will see the Canadian and 
i\ed Liver country the Rhine of America. This 
country will also grow fruits of all kinds. 

When the colonists reached this river, they 
selected a spot on the north side of the Canadian, 
opposite Silver City, which is located in the Chick' 
asaw nation, and did there offer up thanks to the 
Supreme Ruler of the universe—in the way of a grand 
barbecue—where they, after the appropriate devo¬ 
tional services, fell to and enjoyed a huge and boun¬ 
tiful repast of buffalo, deer, antelope, turkey, wild 
hog, bear, opossum, etc. 


















































































































































































































































































































i 


4 































































Oklahoma. 


73 


WILD GAME, DISHING, HUNTING. 

Among the game that is found in the Territory 
are the wild horse, mountain-lion, bear, deer, wolves, 
panther, antelope, wild boar, red and gray fox, raccoon, 
wild cat, opossum, mink, otter, wild turkey in great 
numbers, prairie-chickens, quails, jacksnipe, rice-birds, 
and many others. The streams abound in fish, such 
ascrappie, bass, salmon, red-horse, perch, eels,sunfish, 
suckers, and the classical cat-fish, which afiords great 
sport and enjoyment with the rod. The Territory is 
famous for its hunting and fishing grounds not only 
by the Indians, but also by the white man. 

The distance from Arkansas City by this trail to 
Ponca is 30 miles, to Otoes 38 miles, to Black Bear 
Creek 55 miles, to B. & M. Banch and Eord on the 
Cimarron 90 miles, and to Wells’s Store on the Cana¬ 
dian Biver 130 miles. These distances are given by 
straight lines. The actual measurement of the road 
as traveled by all its windings and meanderings is 
much more. There are immense ranches all along 
the route, and even the town-site of Oklahoma is en¬ 
closed in as a pasture. Still it is claimed at Wash¬ 
ington that no white men or cattle are allowed upon 




JACKSON AND JUMBO FISHING WHILE COLE COOKS A 
SQUAKE MEAL. 






























Oklahoma. 


75 


this most sacred ground. One of the town- ites is 
Nugent. It is situated on the North Fork of the Ca¬ 
nadian Kiver, 18 miles east and 6 miles south of 
Fort Eeno, and south cf the third standard paral¬ 
lel. It lies on the north jide of the river, and is some¬ 
times called “ Johnson’ } Grove.” There has been 
erected here several h< uses, and tho town-site sur¬ 
veyed and platted and located on sections 81 and 32, 
in township 12 north of range 4, west of the Indian 
meridian, containing in all 1,280 acres. This will be 
one of the towns when Oklahoma becomes a state. 
The country around this town comprises a beautiful 
and fertile valley, all o : which is regularly surveyed 
and laid out in town .hips and sections. A good 
many ' iarter-sections have been located, ploughed, 
and cul ivated by the c< lorists. Timber is abundant; 
clear w ter, and climate peasant. Twelve miles east 
and on \ he north side o: 1 he North Fork of the Cana¬ 
dian Ki\ er is situated Oklahoma City, which is regu¬ 
larly laid’out, surveye r and platted, and containing 
four sections of land, or 2,560 acres, being sections 11, 
12, 13, an 1 14, in town hip 11, north of range 3, west 
of the Indian meridian The country around Okla¬ 
homa Citj is similar to that surrounding Nugent, 
containing pknty of p airie land, timber, and water. 
In this locahty several hundred of Payne’s colonists 


76 


Oklahoma. 


have located their future homes, no person preempt¬ 
ing more than 160 acres each. Many have built 
houses, stables, corn-cribs, and corrals, and other im¬ 
provements necessary in a new country. So rich is 
the soil in this section that, had the colonists been 
undisturbed for one season, they could have raised 
sufficient to make them self-sustaining. The land 
here is so rich and fertile that the first plowing will 
yield more than the richest lands in Kansas. 

It is no experiment what these lands will produce, 
as they have been cultivated by outsiders in violation 
of all known laws. All along the Cimarron and 
North Fork of the Canadian River to the Red River, 
cotton, corn, and wheat fields, scattered here and 
there, evidence the producing qualities of this soil. 

Six miles north and eight miles east of Oklahoma 
City is situated Ewing City. It is located on the 
south side of the North Fork of the Canadian River, 
in a valley of the very finest land within the reach of 
man, covered with a heavy growth of walnut, syca¬ 
more, and cottonwood trees, and on the rising ground 
with pin-oak. Ewing City is 96 miles south and 12 
miles west of Arkansas City, and 40 miles almost due 
east of Fort Reno; also 6 miles west of the location of 
Kickapoo Indians, located by Executive order, Aug. 
15,1883. At Ewing City, as at other towns, the site has. 


Oklahoma. 


77 


been regularly laid out, surveyed and platted, and is 
situated upon section 20, in township 13, north of 
range 1, west of the Indian meridian, containing only 
160 acres. Farms have been located all around the 
town-site, and improvements have commenced, and 
at one time everywhere busy workmen were plying 
axe, hammer, and saw, and the voice of the artisan 
was heard in the land. "Whittier must have stood on 
some similar spot when he wrote : 

“ Behind the squaw’s light birch canoe 
The steamer rocks and waves : 

And city lots are staked for sale 
Above old Indian graves. 

“ I hear the tread of pioneers 
Of nations yet to be— 

The first low wash of waves where soon 
Shall roll a human sea. 

“ The rudiments of Empire here 
Are plastic yet and warm : 

The chaos of a mighty world 
Is rounding into form.” 

To the north-west of Ewing City about ten miles 
is the Deep Fork, a tributary of the North Fork of the 
Canadian River,where is located the homestead selected 
by Capt. David L. Payne. It is a most beautiful spot. 
The country around is skirted with splendid timber— 
black-walnut, hickory,oak, hackberry, and sycamore— 
and reminds one of early days along the Sangamon 






















































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


79 


River in Illinois and the Wabash River in Indiana, 
leaving out the marshes. He settled on a claim of 160 
acres and no more, the same as the rest of his fol¬ 
lowers. 

The towns and the country about them were 
surveyed by Mr. E. A. Reiman, of Wichita Kansas the 
colonists, regular surveyor. Mr. Reiman was at one 
time Vice-President of the colony, during Capt. 
Payne’s administration. The towns and lands were 
surveyed by him during the years 1878 and 1879. 

Starting at Arkansas City, Capt. Couch in his 
recent pilgrimage went nearly due south, crossing 
nearly all the same streams as Capt. Payne; but keep¬ 
ing farther east, passed through the Poncas’, Otoes 
and Missourias’ reservation, so called. The Hez Perces, 
Poncas,Otoes and Missourias,all told, on these reserva¬ 
tions, do not number seventy-live people, yet by an 
Executive order these lands—which are beautifully lo¬ 
cated as to water and grazing—were set off to them, 
through the usual course of the ring process, so that 
leases could be obtained from the tribes. The distance 
from the Kansas line is eighteen, and farthest thirty- 
six miles. 

Passing through these leased lands, he bore 
steadily southward until he reached Stillwater, where 
he and his followers were starved out, as previously 


80 


Oklahoma. 


described. Stillwater is due south of Arkansas 
City and sixty-five miles from the Kansas line, and 
fifteen miles in from the north line of the Oklahoma 
country, where they laid out and platted a town, and 
sought to establish a newspaper upon Oklahoma 
ground. 









OKLAHOMA; 


81 


THE OSBTJRF COLOFY. 

The colonists since the days of their first organiza¬ 
tions have had several publications, such as “ Okla¬ 
homa War Chief/’edited by Wm. F. Gordon at South 
Haven, Kansas; “ The Oklahoma Pilgrim,” edited by 
W. H. Osburn at Burrton, Kansas; and “ The Okla¬ 
homa Chief,” edited by S. J. Zerger at Arkansas City. 

The following is the new Constitution of the Os¬ 
burn Oklahoma Colony: 

For the purpose of effecting more thoroughly 
the aims, objects, and purposes of the members of 
Osburn’s Oklahoma Colony, and of maintaining more 
perfect harmony—and of more especially defining and 
setting forth the duties and requirements of the mem¬ 
bers thereof, and the rules by which they are to be 
governed—they have adopted the following Constitu¬ 
tion, to which they each pledge a faithful and hearty 
support: 

CONSTITUTION . 

ARTICLE 1. 

NAME. 

This Colony shall be styled and be known as 
The Osburn Oklahoma Colony or Petitioners to Con- 



82 


Oklahoma. 


ARTICLE II. 

OBJECT. 

The object of this Colony shall be the settlement 
of the Government land known as the Oklahoma 
Lands. 

ARTICLE III. 

MEMBERSHIP. 

Section 1. Every person twenty-one years of 
age and of good moral character shall be eligible to 
membership in the Colony by complying with section 
2 of this article. 

Sec. 2. Every person desirous of joining this 
Colony and becoming a member thereof shall pay to 
the Secretary or. agent thereof the sum of two dollars 
($ 2 . 00 ). 

ARTICLE IV. 

OFFICERS. 

The officers of this Colony shall be a President, 
Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Colony Sur¬ 
veyor and Engineer, together with a Board of Direct¬ 
ors, consisting of five members, which said Board 
shall be elected annually by ballot at a meeting of 
the Colony held for such purpose on the 6th day of 
February in each year. 


Oklahoma. 




ARTICLE Y. 

POWERS AND DUTIES OF OFFICERS. 

Section 1 . Of the President. The President 
shall be the chief executive officer of the Colony, and 
as such shall at all times, in a proper manner, make 
an honest effort to carry into effect the provisions and 
requirements of this Constitution and all laws, rules, 
and ordinances made by virtue and authority thereof. 

He shall preside at the meetings of the Colony, 
and as their presiding officer shall be President, and 
controlled by the customs and usages of other well- 
organized deliberative assemblies. He shall have the 
power of appointing committees the appointment of 
which is not otherwise herein provided for. He shall 
not be permitted to vote upon any motion, question, 
or resolution that may be before the Colony at any of 
its meetings, except when there shall be a tie, when 
he shall give the casting vote. He may, however, 
address the meeting upon such question; but for such 
purpose must vacate the chair and take the floor, his 
chair in the meantime being filled by some one 
appointed. 

He shall sign all warrants or orders upon the 
Treasurer for the payment of money, all proclama¬ 
tions calling a meeting of the Colony ; and while pre- 


84 


Oklahoma. 


siding at a meeting shall maintain and enforce proper 
order, dignity, and decorum. 

Sec. 2. Of the Vice-President. The Vice-Pres¬ 
ident shall aid and assist the President in the dis¬ 
charge of his official duties, and, in the absence of the 
President, the Vice-President shall discharge the 
duties of the President. 

Sec. 3. Of the Secretary. The Secretary shall 
keep a correct record of the proceedings of each 
meeting; conduct the correspondence of the Colony; 
attest all orders or warrants drawn upon the Treas¬ 
urer for the payment of money, after the President 
shall have signed them; attest all proclamations or 
other official orders ; shall affix to all official papers 
the Seal of the Colony, and be the custodian of such 
Seal. 

He shall also be keeper of the rolls, and shall 
receive all moneys paid to the Colony, paying the 
same over to the Treasurer at once, taking that offi¬ 
cer’s receipt therefor. 

Sec. 4. Of the Treasurer. The Treasurer shall 
receive from the Secretary all the moneys of the Col" 
ony, and safely keep the same, paying out no portion 
thereof except upon the written or printed order or 
warrant, drawn upon him, signed by the President, 


Oklahoma. 


a r > 

attested by the Secretary, and having affixed thereto 
the Seal of the Colony. 

He shall execute a bond conditioned for the 
faithful performance of his duties, as defined in this 
section, in the sum of five hundred dollars ($500.00), 
to be approved by the Board of Directors. 

Sec. 5. Of the Board of Directors. The Board 
of Directors shall be and constitute a Board of Audit, 
and shall audit in general business all accounts of 
every kind for the Colony. 

Sec. 6. Of the Colony Surveyor and Engineer. 
It shall, be the duty of the Surveyor and Engineer 
to make any and all necessary surveys for any mem¬ 
ber of the Colony, to make plats and maps of the 
lands occupied by the Colony or that may become 
occupied by additional members of the Colony, and 
such maps and plats with a true record of all his sur¬ 
veys shall be kept on file in the office of the Secretary 
of the Colony; and his compensation shall be paid by 
the member of the Colony for whom such services 
shall have been rendered. 

ARTICLE VI. 

MEETINGS. 

There shall be a meeting of the Colony on the 
last Friday, at 2 p. m., of each and every month, for 


86 


Oklahoma. 


the purpose of attending to the general interests of 
theUolony. 

There shall also be held an annual meeting for 
the election of officers, the annual settlement, and set¬ 
tlement of all business with officers, and for the pur¬ 
pose of preparing the annual report of the Colony, 
which said annual meeting shall be held on the first 
Friday in February of each year. 

ARTICLE VII. 

VACANCIES AND HOW FILLED. 

Whenever, through any cause whatever, an office 
becomes vacant, the President upon being notified 
thereof shall appoint some suitable member of the 
Colony to such vacant office. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

TERMS OF OFFICERS AND ELECTIONS THEREOF. 

The term of each and every officer of this Colony 
shall be and continue one year, and until their suc¬ 
cessor shall have been duly elected and qualified. 

ARTICLE IX. 

ASSESSMENTS. 

Assessments not exceeding ten (10) cents per 
capita of the membership of the Colony may be made 
by a majority vote of the members present at any 


Oklahoma. 


87 

meeting, but thirty days’ notice of such assessment 
must be given each member of the Colony by the 
Secretary. 

ARTICLE X. 

REMOVAL OF OFFICERS. 

Any officer may be impeached by a two-thirds 
vote of the Colony. 

ARTICLE XI. 

In case of two members laying claim to the same 
tract of land, said members shall abide by the decis¬ 
ion of an arbitrary committee elected by the Colony. 




88 


Oklahoma. 


The following is a new Certificate of Member¬ 
ship in the “ Osburn Oklahoma Colony”: 

W. H. Osburn, President. C. P. Wickmiller, Sec’y. 

E. A. Reiman, Vice-Pres’t. E. H. Nugent, Treasurer. 

JSTo . 

OF 

—In Osburn’s Oklahoma Colony.— 


In consideration of the 'payment of Two Dollars 

this . .....day of ... 

188 ,Mr... : . 

is entitled to the benefits to be derived from this Colony , 
having a voice in all its business. In testimony whereof 
the Secretary attaches the Colony Seal. 

.Secretary. 

..President. 


















Oklahoma. 


89 


GEM. POPE’S ORDERS. 


“ Headquarters Department of the Missouri, 
Assistant Adjutant-General’s Office, 
Fort Leavenworth, Kas., June—, 1880. 

“ Sir, —Under the proclamation of the President 
of the United States, dated Washington, D. C., Febru¬ 
ary 12,1880, of the orders of the General of the army, 
the duty of removing from* the* Indian Territory all 
unauthorized persons who have intruded into it, and 
preventing the intrusion of others, devolves upon the 
troops in this department. The following sections of 
the Revised Statutes of the United States prescribe 
the duties, and define the powers and mode of exer¬ 
cising them, of troops engaged in this duty. 

“ 4 Section 2147. The Commissioner of Indian Af¬ 
fairs is authorized and required, with the approval of 
the Secretary of the Interior, to remove from any tribal 
reservation any person being therein without authority 
of law, or whose presence within the limits of the res¬ 
ervation may, in the judgment of the Commissioner, 
be detrimental to the peace and welfare of the Indians ; 
and may employ for that purpose such force as may 
be necessary to enable the agent to remove such 
person. 

44 4 Sec. 2150. The military forces of the United 
States may be enployed in such manner and under 
such regulations as the President may direct : 

44 4 1. In the apprehension of every person who may 




1 




































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


91 


be in the Indian Territory in violation of law, and in 
conveying him immediately from the Indian country 
by the most convenient and safe route to the civil 
authority of the Territory, or judicial district in which 
such person shall be found, to be proceeded against 
in due course of law. 

‘“2. In the examination and seizure of stores, 
packages, and boats unauthorized by law. 

“‘3. In preventing the introduction of persons 
and property into the Indian country contrary to law. 

“ ‘ 4. And also in destroying and breaking up any 
distillery for manufacturing ardent spirits set up or 
continued within the Indian country. 

“ 6 Sec. 2151. No person apprehended by military 
force under the previous section shall be detained 
longer than five days after arrest and before removal 
All officers and soldiers who may have any such person 
in custody shall treat him with all the humanity which 
the circumstances will permit.’ 

‘‘In performing the duties thus imposed upon them, 
the troops must remember that many of the intruders 
are probably not guilty of any intention to violate law, 
but have been deceived by the statements of designing 
persons, who, for their own advantage, have sought to 
convey false notions of the state of the law bearing 
upon the subject; and while the law must be enforced 
and all intruders removed from the Indian Territory, 
still the less violence or harshness used in the matter 
the better. All persons who are met outside the limits 
of the Territory, and designing to enter it for purposes 
of settlement, must be warned of the illegality of 
such action and of the inevitable consequences of pur¬ 
suing it, and induced, if possible, by persuasion and 


92 


Oklahoma. 


advice, to abandon their project. All persons who have 
intruded within the Territory must be escorted out¬ 
side the Territorial line,with as little harshness and dis¬ 
courtesy as may he, and warned not to return. Those 
intruders who, having been once removed from the 
Territory, are found again trespassing,' will be dealt 
with as provided in section 2150 of the It. S. By com¬ 
mand of Brig. Gen. Pope. 

E. It. Platt, Assistant Adjutant Gen.” 

It having been rumored at Fort Reno that 120 
wagons were en route to this crossing of the Cimarron 
Lieut. Day was ordered to form a permanent camp 
here by the 26th. He found a party on the old Chis¬ 
holm trail, and put them under arrest. Several of 
them claimed to be “ freighters,” but one wagon had 
a plow in it which had been lately used, and looked 
much as if used in Oklahoma soil. Another outfit 
were “prospecting; just wanted to see the country • 
had nothing to do with the boomers; never saw Capt. 
Payne ; wanted to be let alone,” etc. But one man 
out of all the men arrested by Lieut. Day admitted 
himself to be a Payne boomer. All the others pro¬ 
fessed to be on legitimate business, but had no legal 
permission or document to exhibit in proof. Nearly 
every one thus arrested persistently refused to give 
his name. Two intelligent men, claiming to be from 
Arkansas City, say they were at John Miller’s ranch. 


Oklahoma. 


93 


on Cottonwood, endeavoring to arrange for pasturing 
some large herds. They had been imformed that 
Miller had more inclosed land than cattle, and wanted 
to sublet a portion of his pasture, which is said to be 
seventeen miles square, or somethiug over 500,000 
acres. Mr. J. T. Moore says B. H. Campbell told him 
that he had over 1,500 head of cattle on Deer Creek, 
a tributary of the Cottonwood, and that he had a 
written permit from Secretary Teller to keep them 
there. Lee and Reynolds have a pasture inclosed near 
this camp, extending along the Cottonwood, which is 
said to be about 125 miles square, and well inclosed 
by wire fence. 

Cottonwood is lined on both sides with fine 
ranches from the Cimarron nearly to its source, and 
they all have good log-houses and corrals. Some of 
them have been here for two or three years. This is 
all in the Oklahoma country. Deep Fork and part of 
the Lower Canadian is similarly taken by squatters 
on pretended leases or letters of authority. Southern 
Oklahoma is heavily timbered, and filled with thou¬ 
sands upon thousands of cattle, held there by outside 
owners in violation of all known laws or regulations 
on that subject. The Interior Department owes it to 
itself to deny these ugly accusations of favoritism, if 
it can. The department is powerless, as there are 


94 


Oklahoma. 


living facts, and a visit to this county will show. We 
could furnish the names of actual occupants of this 
Oklahoma country, confessedly not belonging to any 
Indian tribe from which leases might have been ob¬ 
tained ; unless the Interior Department act upon it,and 
unless it can show conclusively by negative proof 
(which it can’t) that partiality and discrimination have 
not been used in granting permission to these men to 
remain there. Oklahoma colinests have scarce com¬ 
menced. This organization and others to follow will 
gain in such strength as to defy the authorities,as they 
did at Dead wood some years ago. This it is not ex¬ 
pected will be necessary, as this administration will 
open the way to peaceful settlement it is hoped. 

The people will not stand it much longer. Is 
there a human power so great that another power 
can not be found nearly as powerful? 

When the people of the North said there should 
be no North, no South—at the cost of millions, and 
valuable lives—their command was obeyed. Mighty 
empires have fallen, great railroad kings and mighty 
corporations, and is it not time that the cattle monop¬ 
olists meet their Waterloo, or stand on equal footing 
with other producers and beef-raisers of the country 
in which they live. Why should they be protected 
from taxation under a, false guise of helping the 


Oklahoma. 


95 


poor Indian, by leasing bis lands at two cents an 
acre? 

Mr. President, Senators, and Members of Con¬ 
gress, you do not believe they should, and the sooner 
you show your constituents your honesty of purpose, 
the sooner the suspicion of the people will be allayed. 

There are large herds of cattle owned in the dif¬ 
ferent States, upon which taxes have to be paid, 
while those in the Territory pay none, and are thus 
enabled to bull the beef market in order that State 
cattle-men may live; otherwise State cattle-men 
would be obliged to go out of the business. The fact 
is, that, at the present price of beef, State cattle-men 
can live; while the Indian-Territory men grow rich 
in tenfold, pay comparatively nothing for the use of 
their grazing-lands, and have no capital invested in 
such lands; pay no taxes, and have the advantage of 
a salubrious climate and feed the year round, without 
extra cost above the two cents per acre. Whenever 
the beef market is dull, these mighty kings withhold 
their stock from the market until there is such a 
demand that certain prices can be realized. And the 
poor man is obliged to pay full prices, as if there were 
really a scarcity of beef, when, in reality, it is only 
the withholding of the mighty herds from market by 
the cattle monopolists. 


Oklahoma. 


% 


Newspaper Comments on Oklahoma and the 
Indian Territory. 


HOW CATTLE-LEASES ARE OBTAINED. 

(From the New York Sun.) 

Some of the Washington authorities seem to be 
very much in the dark about the rumor that three 
million acres of the Crow reservation are to be leased 
for grazing, at the extremely moderate rate of one cent 
an acre. 

It may be remembered that at the last session of 
Congress, Senator Vest, learning that the cattle of 
white men had been put on this reservation, intro¬ 
duced a resolution asking Secretary Teller whether 
the Indian agents had been concerned in the business. 
The resolution was adopted, but no reply ever came 
from the Interior Department. Possibly, however, 
the resolution has at least forced the cattle-men to 
try to cover their proceedings by a regular lease. 
Many of the citizens of Montana have sent protests 
against this proposed contract, which, they say, is 
managed by a syndicate of Colorado capitalists. The 
signers of the protests maintain that, while nearly all 
the Crows are opposed to lease, a majority have been 



Oklahoma. 


97 


induced, by threats, misrepresentations, and bribes, to 
give their written consent to it. 

Section 2,116 of the Revised Statutes forbids “the 
purchase, grant, lease, or other conveyance ” of lands 
of any Indian tribe without the authority of the Gov¬ 
ernment : 

“Any person who, not being employed under the 
authority of the United States, attempts to negotiate 
such treaty or convention, directly or indirectly, or to 
treat with any such nation or tribe of Indians for the 
title or purchase of any lands by them held or claimed, 
is liable to a penalty of one thousand dollars.” 

This penalty, it is true, might be cheerfully paid 
for the privilege of surreptitiously getting a long lease 
at one cent an acre. Besides, it might be held that 
procuring such a lease without previous authority is 
lawful under the following clause of the agreement 
ratified w r ith Crows on April 11, 1882: 

“If any time hereafter we, as a tribe, shall con¬ 
sent to permit cattle to be driven across our reserva¬ 
tion or grazed thereon, the Secretary of the Interior 
shall fix the amount to be paid by parties so desiring 
to drive or graze cattle.” 

Still, in any event, the final responsibility for 
thus fixing the rent is with the Interior Department; 
and it is accordingly desirable that this department 




\ 







V 










































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


99 


should thoroughly understand what is going on 
among the Crows, and what a proper rental would be. 
Mr. Vest’s information goes to show that the alleged 
lease has been extorted through the influence of the 
local Indian agent and of some whites at Fort Custer. 

The leasing of Indian lands for grazing has 
now become a very important matter. The Revised 
Statutes, as we have seen, directly prohibit any such 
leasing by persons not employed by the United States. 
Nevertheless, statistics of the Interior Department 
show that there are now leases of 3,117,880 acres of land 
in the Indian Territory. Secretary Teller has said 
that he can not approve these leases, because they are 
contrary to law, yet he will protect the lessees in their 
enjoyment. This is the language of an official letter 
written by him on the subject: 

“ While the department will not recognize the 
agreement or lease you mention, nor any other of 
the like character, to the extent of approving the same, 
nor to the extent of assuming to settle controversies 
that may arise between the different parties holding 
such agreement, yet the department will endeavor to 
see that parties having no agreement with the In¬ 
dians are not allowed to interfere with those who 
have.” 

Thus by gradual steps the Government has 


100 


Oklahoma. 


come to the point of using its entire military strength, 
if need be, to enforce the sanctity of leases that are 
expressly forbiddenu, nder penalty, by its own stat¬ 
utes. 

What makes the matter still stranger is that 
some of these leases appear to have been obtained by 
reprehensible methods. A letter on file in the In¬ 
terior Department, coming from Yinita, makes a 
grave charge about one such agreement: 

a It was gotten through by the most corrupt and 
vile schemes, in order to allow a monopoly to enrich 
themselves, for which privilege they did not spare 
any money about our Council Could the inside of 
the scheme be seen through—and it can—I dare say 
no more vile a swindle was ever perpetrated upon 
our people. Five times the amount could have been 
realized for the lands if our Council had gone at it in 
a proper way.” 

The general truth, however, does not depend 
on the facts, whatever they may be, of this particular 
instance. And it would be a mistake in any case to 
jump to the conclusion that leases of Indian lands 
are necessarily injurious to to the rights of the red 
men. On the contrary, they are to be regarded as a 
very important source of tribal income. JSTot only is 
the chief wealth of the Indians in their lands, but 


Oklahoma. 


.HOI 


many tribes, or bands, have much surplus lands that 
ought to be turned to account. The Interior Depart¬ 
ment, however, should superintend the making of 
such leases. It should also protect the interests of 
the Indians, instead of allowing secret bargains to be 
arranged by private citizens and corporations, which 
the department afterward ratifies. 

CHEATING THE INDIANS. 

(From The Chicago Tribune.) 

The land scandals of this country threaten to take 
on as intense a form as those of older countries. The 
revelations now being made by the investigations of 
of the leases of Indian lands only add another chap¬ 
ter to the story of the misappropriation of our public 
domain. As we approach the time at which the 
arable land of the West will be exhausted, the efforts 
of powerful individuals and syndicates to get posses¬ 
sion by any means, lawful or unlawful, of the choice 
portions that remain, become more determined. The 
reservations held for the Indians, and dedicated by 
law and treaty to their sole use, are passing in huge 
blocks into the control of cattle companies. Here, 
for instance, in the Indian Territory is a little piece 
called the Cherokee Strip, which is 200 miles long 
and 56 miles wide, and is leased to one cattle com- 


102 


Oklahoma. 


pany for about one-fifth of its real value, flight, 
across the westward path of the settlers seeking 
farms are now stretched the barbed-wire fences, 
some of them scores of miles in length, of cattle com¬ 
panies who are grabbing the lands that belong to the 
people. The acts granting lands to the Pacific 
roads, provided that all land not sold at a certain time 
should be open for settlement; but in contravention 
of this explicit provision of the law, these lands are 
still held by the corporations, and poor men who 
want to buy them are compelled to pay from three to 
ten times the price at which they would have a right 
te obtain them from the Government if the law had 
not been nullified. 

The circumstances which are being brought to 
light with regard to the leases of the Indian lands 
are prehaps the most striking instance which has 
yet been afforded of the way in which government 
of, by, and for the people can be turned to the disad¬ 
vantage of the people. The laws of the United 
States, proceeding on the perfectly obvious principle 
that the Indians are unfit to protect their own in¬ 
terests, forbid any negotiations “ for the purchase, 
grant, lease or conveyance of lands or of any title or 
claim thereto from any Indian nation, or tribe of 
Indians, unless the same be made by treaty or con- 


Oklahoma. 


103 


vention, entered into pursuant to the Constitution.” 
The law specifies in full detail how such convention 
shall be made. It provides that no one shall make 
any such arrangement unless employed under the 
authority of the United States, fixes all the proced¬ 
ure when such agreements are so made, provides 
heavy punishment for persons carrying on such ne¬ 
gotiations without authority. But notwithstanding 
the clear and full declarations of the law in this 
country, it is now ascertained that more than 6,000,- 
000 acres of the finest grazing and farming land in 
the far West have been leased by persons without au¬ 
thority. A resolution from the Senate asking the 
Secretary of the Interior whether the Indian agents 
had any part in these illegal bargains was ignored 
by the Secretary, who never answered it. The Secre¬ 
tary of the Interior, knowing as he must have done 
that these leases of Indian lands were contrary to the 
law, and that they invited penalty instead of approval 
has given them his tacit sanction, and the assur¬ 
ance that these violations of the law, and the trespasses 
on the Indian lands, shall be protected. 

If the Indians hold land that they do not need, 
and which should be put to use—which is the fact— 
it should be the public, and not a few cunning, grasp¬ 
ing cattle syndicates, that should have thejDreference. 


104 


Oklahoma. 


Every illegal lease should be at once rescinded, and 
trespassers under it should he evicted, by the use of 
military if necessary. When the Government has 
obtained, by a proper negotiation with the Indiaus, 
access to such lands as they do not need, the 
arable land should be open to settlement by bona-fide 
farmers, and the grazing-land should be disposed of 
by public competition to the grazers who would pay 
the highest price for them. This is the honest and 
straightforward way to deal with the Indian lands. 
The scandals which are already more than hinted at 
in connection with what has been done are the natural 
fruit of an opposite policy. 

TREATIES OF MARCH AHD JULY, 1866. 

(From the Wichita Beacon.) 

As to the rights of the citizens upon these lands 
there is not now even the shadow of a doubt. If 
there had been, the decision of Judge Foster would 
have set it at rest; but we have in furtherance of his 
decision, and what probably helped him to his opin¬ 
ion, the fact that there never was a tribe or a single 
Indian (notably here the action of the Government 
in removing the Cherokees who sought to settle the 
quarter-section of land across the line of the Indian 
Territory from Ilunnewell, wanted by the railroad 


Oklahoma. 


105 


company) that owned or had a title (in fee-simple) to 
one acre of land west of 96°. The only claim the 
Indians ever did possess was that of a “hunting per¬ 
mit,” or, as was termed in the treaty of 1828, an 
outlet as far as the then possessions of the United 
States went, or to Mexico. Through the oversight of 
the Interior Department, the United States Govern¬ 
ment treated for certain lands claimed by the Chick¬ 
asaw, Choctaw, Seminole, and Creek Indians in 
March, 1866. Tl^e Interior Department treated for 
the lands with the view of locating other Indians and 
freed-men thereon,as stated in the treaties; but in after 
years (1876-1878) Congress passed laws virtually 
prohibiting its use for that purpose. 

The Indians own and have a title (in fee-simple) 
to all lands east of 96°, but not an acre of land west 
of 96°. And the Interior Department, in treating for 
these lands, simply treated for a public domain, for 
soil that at that time belonged to the United States, 
and for which the Government had a clear title. 

But suppose the Indians did, at one time, own 
the country that we now seek to occupy, certain it is 
that they sold and transferred any claim or title they 
may have had by the treaties of March and July, 
1866, and got the cash for it. 

The act of September 20, 1844, granting pre- 


106 


Oklahoma. 


eruptions to actual settlers, provides that all lands, 
where the Indian title is or shall hereafter become 
extinguished, shall be subject to the provisions of 
this act. Here is an extinguished title. Section 2 
A. & P. R. R. Charter provides that the Government 
of the United States shall extinguish, as rapidly as 
may be consistent with the good policy of the Gov¬ 
ernment, and only by the voluntary session of the 
Indians, the title to all Indian land lying along the 
line of said road. The United Stages, acting in good 
faith, did extinguish the title to all lands (Indian) 
west of the Sac and Fox, Pottawatomie and Chicka¬ 
saw reservations, to the Red River on the south, and 
to the Pan Handle on the west. 

Congress in 1878 passed an act providing that 
wherever there was a landgrant to any railroad, or 
for any other purpose (and it does not matter in 
what State or Territory), that the preemption and 
the homestead laws of the United States should apply 
to all even sections of land within the limit of said 
grant. Take all other laws and treaties away, and 
we can hold under the grant to the Atlantic & Pacific 
Railroad. This law is plain and emphatic. It makes 
no provisions as to treaties, reservations, or condi¬ 
tions. The wording of the law is “ all land where 
there is a grant,” etc. 


Oklahoma. 


107 


The Indians themselves never pretended to claim 
any interest in these lands since—not even a “ hunt¬ 
ing permit” now—and the odd sections given to the 
Atlantic & Pacific Railroad have been set apart for 
them ever since the survey was made. The single 
fact that the action of Congress gave the grant and 
right of way through this part of the Indian Territory 
is proof of it being Government land, as they had no 
power in like when the M., K. & T. R. R. sought a 
right of way through the lands that the Indians had 
a title to. The fact is hence more boldly to the sur¬ 
face, that these lands are held by those who have the 
power to control them in the interest of a wealthy 
syndicate, to the exclusion of the mere pioneer and 
the home-seeker. 

The above, as voicing the last meeting of those 
who are the friends and sympathizers of the colonists, 
is respectfully submitted by your committee as 
appointed. Fred A. Sowers. 

Rev. T. W. Woodrow. 

A. D. Stucker. 














































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


109 


OKLAHOMA STORIES. 

[From the Globe-Democrat ] 

Randall’s Springs, I. T., April 29, 1884. 

This point was reached at dark last evening, and 
is the headquarters of the detachment of United 
States troops sent from Fort Reno to remove all in¬ 
truders from the Indian Territory. Capt. Carroll of 
Company I commands. He has four detachments 
scouring the country in all directions, and arrests are 
daily made. He now has twelve wagons and thirty- 
nine “boomers” in camp. Lieut. Taylor is march¬ 
ing down bottomward and arresting all found there. 
Lieut. Taylor is down Deep Fork, Wells’s Store ? 
picking up all he can find, and is expected here 
hourly. In a few days, at farthest, the arrested 
“ boomers,” who are to be sent out of the Territory, 
will probably be concentrated on the Cimarron River 
and sent under escort to the Kansas line. Those who 
prove to be old offenders will be sent to Fort Reno 
and turned over to the United States authorities for 
prosecution and punishment. 

The “boomers” in camp are very restive under 
arrest and impatient at the delay which has already 
ensued in their cases. They claim that they can only 
be held five days under the military orders, but sev- 


110 


Oklahoma. 


eral have already been in limbo for seven and eight 
days. Capt. Carroll construes his orders to mean 
that he can only detain the party for five days after 
the last arrest is made, and says it would be absurd 
to suppose he could send an escort daily with a small 
squad to the Kansas line, which is nearly 150 miles 
distant. 


PAYNE’S CERTIFICATES. 

The following is the form of certificate seen 
to-day, and which have been sold by thousands : 

Capt. D. L. Payne, Prest.,-Treas. No. 10095.-Sec. 

CERTIFICATE OF MEMBERSHIP. 

OFFICE OF 

payne’s Oklahoma colony. 

[L. S.] Wichita, Kan., April 23, 1884. 

This certifies that A. Z. Bland, having paid the 
fee of FIVE DOLLABS, is a member of Payne’s 
Oklahoma Colony, is entitled to all the benefits and 
protection of said Colony, and an equal voice in all 
matters pertaining to and the formation of its best 
government. 

In testimony whereof the official signatures of the 
President and Secretary are hereto subscribed and the 
Seal of the Colony attached. 

D. L. PAYNE, President . 

A. B. Calvert, Secretary. 


Oklahoma. 


Ill 


The following is the deed or certificate of entry: 
payne’s Oklahoma colony. 


CERTIFICATE OF LOCATION, NO.-. 


[L. S.] Wichita, Kan., April 24, 1884. 

E. F. Bowker i3 entitled to the south £ section 
2, township 11, range 5 west, containing 160 acres 
of public lands in Oklahoma, and his right to the 
same is hereby guaranteed to him or his assignees by 
all the power that can be afforded by this Colony— 
each member thereof being bound to respect the 
rights and protect the interests of every other mem¬ 
ber against intruders. And this certificate, signed by 
the President and countersigned by the Secretary, 
with the Seal of the Colony, shall be the only evidence 
of any member’s rights to the protection hereinbefore 
mentioned. 

In testimony whereof the President has signed 
his name officially, and the Secretary has counter¬ 
signed the same and affixed thereto the Seal of the 
Colony, the day and date above written. 


-, Secretary. 


-, President. 


HOW THEY WERE DUPED. 

The stories told by the “boomers” are serious 
from their standpoint, but are not without many 
ridiculous features. A majority of them seem to be 
dupes and victims of interested parties. They all pro¬ 
fess the utmost confidence in Capt. Payne, but are 




112 


Oklahoma. 


severe and bitter in their denunciation of Senator 
Plumb, Agent Miles, just removed from the Cheyenne 
and Arapahoe reservation, and of nearly every one 
connected with the management of Indian Affairs. 
They point to Payne’s poverty as proof of his incor¬ 
ruptible honesty and devotion to the interests of the 
Oklahoma Colony. Two men said they each sent him 
$25 lately, while he was in Washington City, to defray 
his expenses, and expressed a willingness to advance 
more whenever he said he needed it. Others said he 
was barefooted and without a hat or coat deserving 
the name last week, and that they contributed to get 
him a suit of clothes to wear to Topeka last week to 
await his trial before Judge Miller of the United 
States District Court. John Ludy, of Emporia, says 
he saw a letter from Senator Plumb to Mr. Sawyer, 
of Emporia, in which Plumb assured the “boomers” 
that they might proceed safely to Oklahoma,and that 
the military would not interfere with them. Mr. R. 
D. Brown, also of Emporia, says he saw the same let¬ 
ter, and that he can swear to its genuineness. Sena¬ 
tor Plumb is also charged by them with having writ¬ 
ten to J. B. Moon, ex-sheriff of Lyon County, Kan., 
saying that the “ boomers ” would not be interfered 
with; and Dr. J. W. B. Hewitt, that the whole In¬ 
dian country would soon be opened. On the strength 


Oklahoma. 


113 


of these letters, Col. Moon, a brother of J. B. Moon, 
and many other “boomers,” started for Oklahoma 
with confidence. They also claim that Maj. Hood, the 
Emporia banker, cattle-dealer, and reputed partner of 
Senator Plumb, said: “We have offered Payne 
enough to make him independent, but, G—d d—n 
him, nothing will do him but to start his colony in 
Oklahoma.” They give the name of Moses Coppock, 
a well-known citizen of Emporia township, as a wit¬ 
ness thereto. 

STORIES OF ARRESTS. 

Most of the men were a little guarded in speech 
at first concerning their treatment by officers who 
arrested them, but came afterward to talk about the 
matter with great freedom and indignation. M. H. 
Couch, of Douglas, Butler County, Kan., was at work 
on his claim in the bottom on Horth Canadian River 
when Lieut. Stevens’ command arrived. Couch 
informed the military party that they were trespassers 
on his land, and ordered them off. Lieut. Stev¬ 
ens told him to stop his plow, transfer his team 
to the wagon, and prepare to leave. Couch refused. 
Stevens threatened him with arrest. Couch defied 
him, said he was on his own premises, exercising the 
rights of an American citizen and would only submit 
to force. Lieut. Stevens was obliged to forcibly 


114 


Oklahoma. 


stop the plow-team. Couch refused to unhitch from 
the plow, to hitch the team to the wagon, or to obey 
any order from the lieutenant. He became so violent 
that Lieut Stevens was compelled to remove 
him and his team, plow and wagon by force, and to 
tie Couch’s hands behind him. Couch refused to even 
drive his own team when the march was ordered. A 
detail was made to drive Couch’s team, and Couch 
himself compelled to walk behind his own wagon for 
several miles. Thus far Stevens and Couch agree- 
But Couch asserts that he was treated with great 
indignity and inhumanity. He says he demanded 
rations as soon as arrested, hut has received none 
during his five days’ confinement. When questioned 
whether he did not have provisions of his own he 
admitted that he had some, but that as a prisoner the 
military authorities were bound to feed him at United 
States expense. He has persistently refused for five 
days to attend to his own team. He had broken 
three or four acres of sod and planted it in corn, pota¬ 
toes, and water-melons. 

M. T. Nix, of Emporia, Kan., is Deputy-Surveyor 
of the Colony and one of the most intelligent men in 
the party. He was arrested about sixteen miles up 
the Cottonwood from the Cimarron River, as he 
claims, upon the “ public highway.” He insists\e 



HAPPY JACK IN OKLAHOMA. 









Oklahoma. 


115 


has the right to travel where he pleases on the “high¬ 
ways ” in the Indian Territory, says Oklahoma em¬ 
braces all that part of it which is not assigned to 
tribes now here, and claims it is as much a part of the 
public domain of the United States as any land 
between the oceans, having been purchased from the 
Indians and paid for, etc., etc. He is fortified with 
all of Payne’s stereotyped arguments and pleas, and 
likes nothing better than citing laws, treaties, etc., 
which he construes to suit the Oklahoma “ boomers.” 

D. J. Odell said he lived wherever he had his hat 
on, but qualified it by saying his post-office was 
Arkansas City. He was arrested near Johnson’s 
Grove on the Canadian. He was riding on a mule; 
had to be forcibly dismounted. He resisted to such 
an extent that he had to he tied. He was then 
anchored to the hind axle of a wagon and compelled 
to walk there until the command went into camp at 
night. Another young fellow on a mule fought so 
viciously that it took three men to overcome him. 

CONDUCT OF THE OFFICEES. 

In these cases no more violence seems to have 
been used than was absolutely necessary to compel 
obedience to orders. The officers are uniformly court¬ 
eous and polite to all whom t)iey arrest, and explain 
to them that they have no option in the matter what- 


116 


Oklahoma. 


ever, but are acting in obedience to clear, positive 
orders from superior military authority. No more 
restraint is placed upon them than is necessary for 
their detention. They are not allowed to go out 
hunting because many violated their promise to return 
under similar circumstances last year. Couch is 
evidently playing a game in which he tries to be con¬ 
sistent. He was deprived of his team, he says, by 
force, so he refuses to have anything to do with them, 
and probably intends to bring suit against somebody 
for damages. He will either have to receipt for his 
teams, wagons, and utensils or leave them here. He is 
an intruder, was arrested and sent out last year, and 
says he will return again and make all the trouble he 
can. 

The standing ground of complaint made by all 
“ boomers,” and their chief justification for coming 
and going where they please in the Territory, is the 
fact that cattle-men are allowed to do so, and 
that the law makes no discrimination and 
is no respecter of persons. They assert truth¬ 
fully that cattle-men are scattered all over 
Oklahoma, are building houses, erecting wire fences 
and digging wells as actual settlers, and that there is 
neither law nor common sense to forbid their doing 
the same. At the Burke & Marshall ranch on the 


ROYAL RANCH IN OKLAHOMA. 






































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


117 


Cimarron River there is now one fair log-house fin¬ 
ished and occupied and another one abo*ut half finished. 
There are fair stables and corrals also, and a good 
well dug. Several miles of wire fence are also in 
sight from the ranch along the river bottom. Just 
north of the Cimarron River, at Payne’s Crossing, there 
are large pastures inclosed by wire fences, all on Okla¬ 
homa soil. A large part of the McClellan Cattle 
Company’s ranch north of the Cimarron is within 
the hounds of Oklahoma. All the Cottonwood 
ranches are also in it. There is no question about 
there being immense ranches in Oklahoma inclosed 
by wire fences, good log-houses built, stables and 
corrals put up, and wells dug. Every one admits 
this to be unlawful. The facts have heretofore been 
disputed, but they are easily proven. 

Lee & Reynolds have a large ranch in the Cimar¬ 
ron extending twenty-five miles north and south, and 
lying mainly (as was asserted) south of the river. 
Just east of the south end of Lee & Reynolds’s ranch, 
John Miller has a ranch, inclosed by wire fences, 
seventeen miles square. The pasture was fenced for 
Mr. Brisbin by Mr. Williams, formerly post black¬ 
smith at Fort Reno. He is now employed in some 
official capacity at the Cheyenne and Arapahoe 
Agency. Brisbin sold out, and Miller became the 


118 


Oklahoma. 


owner. Lieut. Taylor thinks he rode through a 
single pasture in the Oklahoma country requiring 
seventy-five miles of wire to enclose it. It was proba¬ 
bly Miller’s. 

Before dismissing the affairs of the Cheyenne 
and Arapahoe reservation, a few facts deserve men¬ 
tion. These Indians are among the worst on the 
continent. They are ignorant and vicious to an ex¬ 
tent that is continually surprising those who know 
them best. They are also more warlike and quarrel¬ 
some than any others in the Territory, and have 
never been subdued. The military may deny this, 
and point to some of their attempts to escape from 
the reservation, and return to their old homes in the 
North-west, when they were overhauled and brought 
back. But this applies to only a portion of them. 
When united in any demand upon the agent at Dar¬ 
lington, they have always compelled him to grant it. 
This has been done more than once or twice, and in 
the most open, high-handed manner possible. The 
presence of the few troops which could be brought to 
bear upon them on such occasions served only to in¬ 
crease and inflame their passions, and in no in¬ 
stance, so far as known, has the military arm of 
the Government been able to sustain and enforce the 
agent’s authority when it was defied by these tribes. 































* 














WINTER QUARTERS IN OKLAHOMA. 

















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


119 


NO RESPECT FOR GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY. 

It follows, as a matter of course, that, having no 
fear of being punished by the Government for their 
outbreaks, they have no respect for its authority, 
civil or military. The functions of the Government, 
from their standpoint, is to feed and clothe them. 
They exercise the privilege of complaining freely, 
and of enforcing the remedy for these complaints at 
the mouths of their Winchester rifles. When they 
can stop the agent on the road and compel him to 
sign issues for beef which they are not entitled to ; 
defy him and the United States troops to their faces 
when an attempt is made to arrest the principal of¬ 
fender; go into the agent’s office and forcibly drag 
him out on the platform, and, with a score of cocked 
Winchesters leveled at his head, compel him to 
promise that he will abandon all attempts to punish 
them; and when a little later ou the tribe sees this 
same threatened, bullied, and overridden agent suffi¬ 
ciently meek, forgiving, and forgetful of his insulted 
authority as to take the leader of this outbreak with 
him to Washington City, and condone all his offenses 
without so much as reproving them, Indian contempt 
for United States officials is surely not a surprising 
thing. Chief Left Hand not a great while since wanted 
some sugar. The agent handed him out a sack of it. 


120 


Oklahoma. 


Angry at receiving but one sackful, Left Hand took 
his scalping-knife, ripped the sack from end to end, 
scattered the sugar all over the street, strode into 
the building with his followers, and took out ten 
sacks instead of one, cursing the agent at a fearful 
rate for presuming to offer so great a chief as he was 
so small an allowance as one sack. He walks in and 
out of the agent’s office daily. Such a thing as pun¬ 
ishing him in any way for the offense, if ever contem¬ 
plated, was never attempted. The late stopping of a 
herd of ponies near the cantonment, and the taking 
of 175 by armed force, is the logical result of such 
management of Indian affairs as prevailed for years 
at the Darlington Agency under John D. Miles. 

A NEW AGENT. 

The present agent, Col. D. B. Dyer, succeeded 
Mr. Miles at this agency April 1st. His record, 
made at the Quap^w reservation, places him among 
the most successful of Indian managers. The tribes 
under him there secured from 8 cents to 12 J cents 
per acre per annum for their lands, which were 
worth no more than those which Agent Miles leased 
at two cents per acre. Agent Dyer is pre-eminently 
a business man. If the department’s policy is to lease 
the lands, you can trust him to take the business 
man’s view of the matter, and secure all the revenue 


ALARMED POST TRADERS IN OKLAHOMA. 






















































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► 









































f 


* 





























































% 




© 































Oklahoma. 


121 


possible from the leases. But he commences at Dar¬ 
lington badly—heavily handicapped. The Govern¬ 
ment property is badly run down. Extensive repairs 
and additions are necessary. The Indians, having 
never been taught any respect for an agent’s author¬ 
ity, are not likely to have much for his in the outset. 
This first lesson the Government should give them 
immediately, and have the agent’s orders vigorously 
enforced at all hazards. When they are found to be 
unwise or unlawful, he should be promptly removed. 
But while in this difficult and dangerous position, he 
should never he compelled to beg for means to sus¬ 
tain himself. The military force at Fort Reno 
should be doubled as soon as men can be transferred 
from other posts, and never be allowed to fall below 
a disposable cavalry force of at least five hundred 
men. 

FOET EENO. 

Any account of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe 
Agency or Reservation would be incomplete which 
omitted considerable mention of Fort Reno. The 
post was established in 1875. The military reserva¬ 
tion, embracing fourteen square miles and 366.7 acres, 
was announced in General Order No. 53 from Head¬ 
quarters of the Army, July 23, 1883. The survey of 
the military reservation was made by Second Lieut. 

10 — 


122 


Oklahoma. 


R. G. Hill, 20th Infantry, in 1883. Among its build¬ 
ings are five sets of double houses for officers’ quarters, 
two stories high, the administration building and 
library, three camp-barracks, four corrals, store-room, 
guard-house, hospital containing two wards, dispen¬ 
sary, kitchen, library, nurses’ room, dining-room, etc., 
company kitchens, quartermaster and commissary 
store-houses, paint-shop, blacksmith-shop, hay-yard, 
scales, chapel, and perhaps some others, besides that 
of the post-trader. 

THE POST-TRADERS. 

Heal W. Evans & Co. are the traders, and have 
had a long and eventful career in that business. The 
elder brother, “Jack,” is understood to be the com¬ 
pany. He was at Fort Gibson for several years, and 
went from there to Fort Sill. At that place he was 
nearly taxed out of business by the infamous Belknap 
levies and black-mail, and finally had his authority 
canceled and was compelled to sell out on short notice. 
He fortunately found a purchaser, or he would have 
been totally ruined, as he was at the mercy of all suc¬ 
cessors. Since then the law has been amended, com¬ 
pelling post-traders to take their predecessors’ stock, 
etc., at a fair valuation. On the Evans brothers’ 
removal from Fort Sill, they procured the signature 
of every commissioned officer at that post, and scores 


WINTER HERDING CAMP IN SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA. 









































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


123 


of other outsiders, petitioning for their re-appointment. 
It was not made, however, but Neal W. Evans was 
soon after appointed post-trader at Eort Reno, as 
every one knew they were not to blame in the Bel¬ 
knap matter. They receiyed their appointments hon¬ 
estly, strove to conduct their business in the same 
manner, and only yielded to threats of total ruin by 
paying some black-mail money, which probably went 
into Mrs. Belknap’s purse. Their establishment is 
one of the largest of its kind in the country, and em¬ 
braces a store, post-office, shoe-shop, tailor-shop,livery 
stable, furniture and carpet rooms, bar-rooms, billiard- 
rooms, hotel, and is a complete menagerie. They 
have a chicken-house 20x50 feet in size. The store is 
90 feet, long, and the whole building 170x170 feet and 
2J stories high, with ample cellars for vegetable and 
dairy products. They are allowed to sell beer and 
wine at the bar. Two upper rooms are fitted and 
furnished as billiard and club rooms for the special 
use of the officers at the post and their invited guests. 
When it is said that fire-wood has to be hauled twenty- 
five miles and costs $12 per cord, and that all the 
lumber in the building had to be hauled by teams 
from Caldwell, Kansas, at a cost for this freightage of 
$1.25 per 100 pounds, and that the total cost of lumber 
laid down here is about $65 per 1,000 feet, some esti- 


124 


Oklahoma. 


mate of the investment can be made. They sell no 
whisky to any one, and give it as their opinion that 
not a dozen Indians near the post want it; at least, 
they never apply for it. Their hotel business shows 
a great increase in transient travel. Corn has to be 
hauled from Caldwell, and is worth $1.10 per bushel. 
Bacon sells at 15 cents per pound. 

THE GARRISON. 

But to return to the troops here. They consist 
of F and I Companies of the 9th Cavalry (colored), 
commanded by Captains Carroll and Bennett respect¬ 
ively, and C and D Companies of the 20th Infantry 
and A Company of the 24th, commanded respectively 
by Captains Taylor, Bradley, and Crandall. The post¬ 
commander is Major Thomas D. Dewees, 9th Cavalry, 
with Second Lieut. J. S. Rogers for post-adju¬ 
tant. The post stands on a high plateau on the right 
(or west) bank of the North Canadian River, has a 
central campus or parade-ground in which a regiment 
can be maneuvered, and is probably the handsomest 
establishment of its kind in the West. It is supplied 
with water from the river, nearly a mile distant, which 
is forced up into tanks sufficiently to give a full head 
in the second story of all buildings at the post. Within 
a few weeks one set of officers’ quarters caught fire 


Oklahoma. 


125 


and burned down in daylight, entailing considerable 
loss on its occupantR. 





















126 


Oklahoma. 


RAILROADS AND CATTLE-KINGS DICTAT¬ 
ING TO CONGRESS. 


If any one is of the opinion that there are no cattle¬ 
men in the Oklahoma country, after all that has been 
said; and if Major Gills or the Government, which¬ 
ever may be the most interested, will go to the Wild 
Horse Creek, about fifteen miles south-west of Still¬ 
water, where the Couch Colony was located, they will 
find the headquarters of the Butler & Mar¬ 
tin, ranch, who claim on the range from 20,000 to 
25,000 head of cattle. Go five miles west and upon 
the south side of the Cimarron River, and there will 
be found the Fitzgerald ranch; and two miles farther 
west, on the south side of the Cimarron River, is still 
another ranch, containing 24,000 head of cattle ; and 
still a few miles farther west is again another ranch. 
Affidavits of proof are not necessary. Inquiries as 
to vacant ranches show that every acre of land is 
claimed as ranches by men holding cattle there now. 
To-day Butler & Martin have hogs without number 
running in the jack-oaks, which furnish mast in 
abundance; and plenty of wire fences can be found 
south of them. It is true some fences have been cut 



SPRING DRIVE, CROSSING SWOLLEN RIVER NEAR CAPTAIN PAYNE’S FORD. 


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« 



































Oklahoma. 


127 


in this vicinity, but belonging to parties that would 
not “ whack up, ” which is the only reason for the 
cutting. -A.8 soon as the owner was run out and gone 
to the States, another man—to use his own language 
—did “ whack up,” and is now occupying the ranch; 
and boasts that the “other fellow didn’t knowhow 
things were done here, he was unpopular” etc. 

Word comes from Washington that William 
Warner, of the Kansas City district, is very desirous 
that some legislation should be passed by Congress 
looking toward the settlement of the Oklahoma land 
question. He thinks there is no doubt but that it will 
be passed; and if Congress only knew what a great 
drawback to the material and commercial interests of 
the country it is, they would certainly not hesitate in 
granting the much-needed relief. The United States 
Senate has asked for a list of the leases, and their 
nature, and by what tribes of Indians, etc. Secretary 
Teller says: “While there can be no objection to 
allowing the Indians of the Indian Territory to lease 
their lands for grazing purposes, there is a great ob¬ 
jection to allowing the Indians upon reservations out¬ 
side of the Indian Territory to lease lands, valuable 
for agricultural purposes, for the purpose of grazing 
only. 

If the Indian reservations are larger than is need- 


128 


Oklahoma. 


ed for the use of the Indians occupying them, there 
should be a reduction thereof, and all that is not 
needed for the use of the Indians should be opened 
up for settlement. 

This trifling with the Western pioneers by Con¬ 
gress and the President at the dictates of the railroads 
and the cattle-kings, if it is continued, will likely re¬ 
sult in a conflict and even bloodshed. Should this 
occur, when it will end no one can tell. The minds 
of the Western men are made up that under the laws 
the pioneers have the right to occupy these lands ; and 
if they go there again, before they can be removed it 
will take an act of war to do it. The question is, who 
is to declare war against them? The power to make 
either a civil or a foreign war is in Congress, and not 
in the President. The laws must be declared to have 
been violated before the President can even use the 
militia or army. Congress has passed laws making it 
a crime to cut timber on public lands ; but how have 
these laws been enforced ? Process issues, the guilty 
is arrested, tried—and if convicted, and the resistance 
is so great that the marshal can not execute the laws, 
the President, on being properly advised, can order 
the army to see that it is done. This was what Gen. 
Washington did in the case of the whisky rebellion 
in Pennsylvania, If the President can on his own 


Oklahoma. 


129 


motion assume judicial powers, declare the law vio¬ 
lated, and then use the army to execute his edict, then 
his will is the supreme law of the land, and all our 
boasted government of law has lost its guarantee. The 
principle of individual rights as guaranteed by the 
Constitution had its origin more than 1,000 years 
ago. We find this : “No man shall he arrested, nor 
imprisoned, nor punished,nor deprived of his life, etc., 
but by the judgment of his peers or by the law of the 
land.” Usurpations for personal rights and arbitrary 
powers are becoming too common in this country. 
The time has passed when large and valuable tracts 
of land fit for agriculture can be held by Indians for 
hunting and grazing purposes, to the exclusion of 
actual settlers. If it is not right according to Secre¬ 
tary Teller’s opinion for Indians holding reservations 
outside of the Indian Territory to have more land 
than they can occupy, and to lease for grazing pur¬ 
poses only lands that are valuable for agricultural pur¬ 
poses, how can it be made to appear right fcr remnants 
of tribes to have reservations set off to them in the 
Oklahoma country, as did the Kickapoos and Iowas 
by an Executive order dated August 15, 1883. The 
lands are leased, and, in fact, were leased before they 
were set off* to them—more correctly speaking, the 
ring had these lands set off for their own use and 


Oklahoma. 


ISO 

benefit, simply using the name of the tribes, which 
noware almost extinct, as it was desirable to use 
the name of Indian at the head of their leases. It 
is bold and highway robbery. It is by these methods 
the Oklahoma lands are excluded from the actual and 
bona,-fide settlers. Will this nation be asked to stand 
it much longer ? Forbearance ceases to be a virtue; 
something must and will be done? 

Let post-traders be a thing of the past. They are 
now allowed to keep and maintain bar, billiard, and 
club rooms; they are allowed to sell beer and wine 
at their bars. In the case of Heal T. Evans & Co., 
at Fort Reno, Indian Territory, they have two upper 
rooms fitted up in the most gorgeous style as billiard 
and club rooms, for the special use of the officers at 
the post and their invited guests. Their store is 90 
feet long, and the whole building is 170 by 170 feet 
and 2| stories high, with ample cellars for storing 
their wine, beer, etc. 

“ I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself 
like a green bay tree, and yet he passed away, and lo, he was not; yea 
I sought him, but he could not be found.” 

The act or September 20, 1844, granting pre¬ 
emptions to actual settlers, provides that all lands 
where the Indian title is or shall hereafter be extin¬ 
guished shall be subject to the provisions of this act. 


Oklahoma. 


131 


Here is an extinguished title (Section 2). The Atlantic 
& Pacific Railroad charter provides that the Govern¬ 
ment of the United States shall extinguish as rapidly 
as may be consistent with the good policy of the 
Government, and only by the voluntary cessions of 
the Indian, title to all Indian* lands lying along the 
line of said road. The United States, acting in good 
faith, did extinguish the title to all lands (Indian) 
west of the Sac and Fox, Pottawatomie and Chick¬ 
asaw reservations, through the Oklahoma country, 
to the Red River on the south and the Pan Handle 
of Texas on the west. The Atlantic & Pacific Rail¬ 
way Co. received a grant of twenty sections per mile, 
through the Indian Territory, of the recognized 
public lands. Their charter has been forfeited for 
non-compliance with the terms of the grant, however. 
To what use are these lands to be put? If Congress 
had the right to grant these lands to a railroad cor¬ 
poration, have not the people, who created the Con¬ 
gress and from whom it derives its powers, a right to 
a voice in the matter? That Congress has a right 
to make the grants, there is no question. Only last 
May did Congress grant a right of way to the Atchi¬ 
son, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad from Winfield, 
Kansas, to Denison, Texas, with a branch westward 
through the Indian Territory to Hew Mexico. The 


132 


Oklahoma. 


right of way was secured through the “ splendid man¬ 
agement ” of Congressman Ryan. Another bill was 
also passed granting a right of way through the 
Indian Territory to the Southern Kansas Railroad, 
which is in fact none other than the Santa Fe Rail¬ 
way Company. The following is a copy : 

“ Washington, D. C., May 31,1884.—By splendid 
management Congressman Ryan to-day got through 
the House his bill granting a right of way to the Atchi¬ 
son, Topeka & Santa Fe from Winfield, Kansas, to 
Denison, with a branch westward through the Indian 
Territory to Hew Mexico. 

“ The bill passed restoring the law of 1867 in the 
matter of appeals from the Circuit Courts to the 
United States Supreme Court, in habeas corpus cases. 
This law was repealed a few years ago, while the 
McArdle case from Mississippi was pending before 
the Supreme Court. 

“ Mr. Perkins, of Kansas, reported a bill granting 
the right of way through the Indian Territory to the 
Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad Company. 
Placed on the House calendar. 

“ On motion of Mr. Wellborn, of Texas, a resolu¬ 
tion was adopted authorizing the Committee on 
Indian Affairs to investigate all matters touching the 
leasing, subleasing, and fencing of lands in the 
Indian Territory, and the disbursement of $300,000 
appropriated for the Cherokee nation during th.e 
Forty-seventh Congress. 

“ The bill granting the right of way through the 
Indian Territory to the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe 
Railroad Company gave rise to a good deal of dis- 


Oklahoma. 


133 


cussion. It was finally passed, after its consideration 
had consumed the greater part of the day. 

u The bill was also passed granting the right of 
way through the Indian Territory to the Southern 
Kansas Railroad Company.” 

The above goes to show what corporations can 
do. There seem to be none to use “ splendid man¬ 
agement ” in behalf of the Oklahoma country, except 
in the interest of cattle-men, who are corporations 
equal to the railroads, and as powerful in Congress. 





134 


Oklahoma. 


THE STATUS OF OKLAHOMA LANDS. 

In an interview with the “ Wichita Beacon ” 
Capt. Couch, on February 26, 1885, said: 

“I am astonished at the ignorance regarding the 
status of Oklahoma lands. I see by the congres¬ 
sional records that it was Vest, instead of Maxey, 
who said Oklahoma was never surveyed nor sec- 
tionized. Now I can go there and place my hand 
on a thousand corner-stones; but aside from the 
question of surveys, the preemption laws allow men 
to settle on surveyed or unsurveyed, offered or unof¬ 
fered, lands. Secretary Lincoln, in his report on 
Oklahoma, says there are no cattle-men on the lands 
in question, except, perhaps, passing herdsmen, etc. 
What do these officials mean ? Have they been 
deceived ? That is hardly possible. Are they favor¬ 
ing the cattle companies, and do they think the peo¬ 
ple are fools ? I tell you that every foot of Oklahoma 
is claimed by the cattle corporations, and there is not 
an Indian on the land; nor do the Indians claim a 
foot of it. I can give you the names of many cattle 
companies occupying the lands, and Lieut. Day will 
bear me out in what I say.” 

“ Let us have the names,” said the reporter, “ and 




CAMP ON CANADIAN RIVER, IN OKLAHOMA, 













Oklahoma. 


135 


we’ll send them on to Bob Lincoln, Senator Dawes, 
and the truly good Secretary of the Interior,” 

“Well,” proceeded Capt. Couch, “there are about 
twenty large companies, with herds, fences, ranches, 
and permanent improvements. I will name some of 
them from memory. There are the Berry Brothers, 
with over 200,000 acres under fence; two good log- 
houses, stables, cribs, and a hog-tight rail fence 
enclosing 300 acres. 

“Burk & Martin have over 100,000 acres as a 
range, and with 100 acres fenced for a horse-pasture; 
good log-house, stables, cribs, corrals, etc. Gen. 
Hatch stayed all night there the night previous to his 
coming to arrest us at Stillwater. 

“The McClellan Cattle Company—they leased 
about 400,000 acres from the Cherokees, and then 
extended their wire fences so as to take in 100,000 
acres of the Government land of Oklahoma. They 
have two ranches, with houses, stables, etc., on the 
Oklahoma part. Their fence takes in the settlement 
of Stillwater, from which the colonists were driven. 
This fence on Oklahoma was ordered taken down by 
the Government at one time. A delegation of cattle¬ 
men at once went to Washington and secured a stay 
of the work. These orders from the department are 


136 


Oklahoma. 


what we call in the Colony ‘ the discriminating 
orders.’ 

“The Wyeth Cattle Company have over 100,000 
acres fenced. They claim a range of 400,000 acres, 
where they ride the lines. They have three ranches 
on the Oklahoma soil. 

“ Fitzgerald Brothers claim a range of 200,000 
acres. None of it is fenced. They ride it. 

“Horsford Brothers have a range of 100,000 
acres. They ride the range. 

“ Ewing (I don’t know whether it is a company 
or not) has a large range, ranches, and permanent im¬ 
provements. 

“ Hewins & Titus—I don’t know how much they 
claim, but it is over 100,000 acres. 

“Williams Brothers have 200,000 acres fenced 
near Bed Fork. The fence extends across the Cimar¬ 
ron, thirty miles north-east of Fort Beno. 

“ The Standard Oil Company— notorious for its 
crookedness—has a large range and many thousands 
of cattle just south of Williams Brothers. The brand 
of the company is 4 O I L.’ 

“ Col. B. H. Campbell, of Wichita,is located with 
his range just south of the Oil Company on the Cot¬ 
tonwood. His brand is a bar, B, and a Q, (T^,) and 


Oklahoma. 


137 


he is known down there as 6 Barbecue Campbell.’ 
The range is an open one. 

“ J. S. Anderson, on Deer Creek, has a log-house 
and other improvements, and he put up a large quan¬ 
tity of hay last summer. 

“ Butler & Co., on the North Canadian, have sev¬ 
eral thousand head of cattle. 

“ The Belle Plaine Cattle Co., organized at Belle 
Plaine by Forney, Meeker, and others—they have a 
range on Deep Fork. I don’t know the names of the 
firms south of this last-named range, but I know that 
you can not take a bunch of cattle upon the Oklahoma 
land; it is all occupied, and the occupants will so in¬ 
form the new-comer. They claim to have authority 
from the Secretary of the Interior to hold their claims. 
It is asserted that Teller gave the cattle-men author¬ 
ity to stay there. He told them they could not lease 
the lands, but he would see that they were not mo¬ 
lested in their possession of the lands.” 

What do you think of the above list of cattle 
kings and companies, Mr. Lincoln ? The statement 
of Capt. Couch can be proven by thousands of good 
men. 

In discussing the status of the Oklahoma lands, 
Capt. Couch said^ 


11— 



RANCH BRANDING IN OKLAHOMA 





























































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


139 


“ I have all the treaties made with the Indians 
by the Government for the last ninety years.” 

“ Can you point to the treaty with the Seminoles 
for the purchase of Oklahoma?” 

“Yes, sir. I have it here. I will snow it to 
you.” 

Capt. Couch went to his room and brought forth 
the treaty. 

“Now,” said he, “ I will give any man a thousand 
dollars to point out where the Seminoles have any 
remaining rights by proviso in the treaty. It is too 
long for you to publish, but look it over.” 

Article 3 of the treaty reads: “ In compliance 

with a desire of the United States to locate other In¬ 
dians and freed-men thereon, the Seminoles cede and 
convey to the United States their entire domain, be¬ 
ing the tract of land ceded to the Seminole Indians 
by the Creek nation under the provisions of article 
1 (1st) treaty of the United States with the Creeks 
and Seminoles, made at Washington,!). C., 1856 In 
consideration of said grant and cession of these lands, 
estimated at 2,169,080 acres, the United States agree 
to pay said Seminole nation the sum of $325,362, said 
purchase being at the rate of fifteencents per acre.” 

Then follow other sections regarding the grant¬ 
ing of the right of way to a railroad company through 


140 


Oklahoma. 


their lands—not the lands ceded, but the lands they 
were to occupy on removal from Oklahoma. 

“ Other Indians and freed-men” were never located 
on the land bought of the Seminoles. It was never 
the intention to locate such people there, and the 
moral milk in the cocoa-nut will appear below. The 
treaty above was concluded July 19, 1866. At the 
time of its conclusion there was a bill pending in Con¬ 
gress incorporating and granting lands to the Atlantic 
& Pacific Railroad Company. The purchase of the 
Seminole lands was for the benefit of this railroad, for, 
eight days after the purchase, Congress passed an act 
giving to the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad the odd sec¬ 
tions of land, and in so doing, as clearly gave settlers 
the right to take the even sections. 

The supplementary homestead act of 1879, sec¬ 
tion 2,239, reads : “ All lands belonging to the United 
States, to which the Indian title has been or may 
hereafter be extinguished, shall be subject to the right 
of preemption under the conditions, restrictions, and 
stipulations provided by law.” 

The latter sentence refers to the amount (160 
acres), the time required to secure title, etc. 

The Seminoles were paid every dollar for their 
lands. The Atlantic & Pacific Railroad was never 
constructed. The time for the construction of the 


Oklahoma. 


141 


road expired, but the law that gave it existence has 
never been repealed. The friends of the road are 
contending against a repeal at this time. Even were 
it repealed, it does not alter the rights of citizens to 
settle on Government land. One great impediment to 
the road was the refusal of Cherokee Indians to give 
the right of way from Yinita in the Cherokee nation. 

We should like very much to obtain a glance at 
the true inwardness of the dovetailed legislation 
which purchased land ostensibly for the freed-men, 
but really for a railroad; and we would like to unearth 
the true inwardness of discrimination against the colo¬ 
nists and in favor of the cattle kings and companies. 

In view of the facts given above, it is no wonder 
that the wise Senators and United States officials do 
not point to “the law” and show these poor settlers 
wherein they are wrong. We earnestly believe that 
the present bill of Dawes is to thwart the opening up 
of the Oklahoma lands. As the law now stands, 
Oklahoma is subject to settlement; but if Dawes’s bill 
passes the House, it will be closed against home- 
seekers. At the request of the colonists we appeal to 
William Holman, of Indiana, to watch the scheme. 

As to the contemplated movement of the colo¬ 
nists into Oklahoma in March, Capt. Couch says the 
interest has spread into Iowa and Illinois, and hun- 


142 


Oklahoma. 


dreds and thousands offer to come and join the home- 
seekers. A delegation of colonists will depart for 
Washington to-morrow. Capt. Couch took the 
train for Topeka this morning to consult the dele¬ 
gation before they depart. We hope they will 
be heard and their appeal heeded before the hands of 
the new administration are tied, as to Oklahoma, by 
the political corruptionists who have favored monopo¬ 
lies, ground down honest toil, and debased the man¬ 
hood of the nation. 

The following are some of the recent leases 
that have been made: to R. Fenlon, Leavenworth, 
Kan., 564,480 acres; to William E. Malaly, Caldwell, 
Kan., 564,480; to Hampton B. Dennison, Washing¬ 
ton, D. C., 575,000; to Jesse S. Morrison, Darling¬ 
ton, Ind., 188,240 ; to Lewis W. Broggs, Muscotah, 
Kan., 818,720; to Albert G. Evans, St. Louis, Mo., 
556,960; to Roht. D. Hunter, St. Louis, Mo., 500,000; 
—making a total of 3,117,880 acres. The leases 
are for ten years, at the rate of two cents per annum. 


Oklahoma. 


143 


IMMEDIATE ACTION BY CONGRESS DE¬ 
MANDED. 

We have endeavored to show the great injustice 
that has been done to the weak and depressed home- 
seeker by the great monopolists, and the seeming 
neglect of our Government in their behalf. We have 
endeavored to show that Oklahoma, of all countries? 
should be opened up for settlement—and the powers 
that have prevented it. This publication is not in 
the interest of any colony or organization of so-called 
“ boomers,” but to state the facts as they exist, and 
to give, as the title-page implies, Oklahoma polit¬ 
ically and topographically described ; history and 
guide to the Indian Territory, with a few biograph¬ 
ical sketches of persons who have been most prom¬ 
inent in doing what they believe they have a right to 
do—to settle upon these lands. And in a recent de¬ 
cision the U. S. Court says: “ They have been guilty 
of no crime, as the Oklahoma country is public 
land ”—and it happens to be located in the West. 

In all ages and countries, how uniformly the 
course of civilization towards the setting sun—that 
Mecca which needs the memory of no prophet to 
draw thither its living pilgrims—that “land beyond 



I 





OKLAHOMA CATTLE DRIVE FOR CHICAGO MARKET. 













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oklahoma. 


145 


the river ” where Greek poet and American Indian 
alike place the abode of their dead; from the dim 
confines of Egypt and China, as the spirit of progress— 
like the wandering Jew, doomed to know no respite 
from his wanderings—marched on, by Greece, Home, 
and Western Empire, across the Atlantic, through 
Jamestown harbor, over Plymouth Pock, toward the 
serene Pacific. And then what ? They are returning 
to fields passed over. Whittier’s lines written some 
years past are very expressive of the present sentiment: 

“ We cross the prairie as of old 
The pilgrims crossed the sea, 

To make the West, as they the East, 

The household of the free. 

“ We go to rear a wall of men 
On Freedom’s southern line, 

And plant beside the cotton-tree 
The rugged northern pine. 

“ Upbearing like the Ark of old 
The Bible in our van, 

We go to test the truth of God 
Against the fraud of man.” 

The fraud of man may be seen on every hand ; 
nevertheless there are more 'good than bad men the 
world over. It is a question whether there can be 
found to the square mile more thieves, robbers, 
cut-throats, murderers, and outlaws than in the 
Indian Territory to-day. They are protected from 



A. P. JACKSON READING THE “ RIOT ACT ”TO CATTLE MONOPOLISTS. 




















































Oklahoma. 


147 


arrest for crime by the monopolist, in order to ter¬ 
rorize the outsider, creating the impression that rivers 
run with blood and gore, and that the country is un¬ 
inhabitable for the poor white man. No doubt this 
method has had its influence upon those that have 
given this country only a glancing thought. The 
intention seems to have been to keep all the facts 
regarding this country in the dark, and allow noth¬ 
ing but blood-curdling stories to come before the 
reading public. For years it has been so. If an out¬ 
law could only reach the Indian Territory, he was and 
is considered a free man; all thoughts of securing his 
arrest were given up. This state of affairs was con¬ 
tinuous, without an effort being made to defend the 
laws, up to the time Payne and his followers entered 
the Territory in 1878. His discourses and knowledge 
of that portion of the world were given to the read¬ 
ing and thinking public, and from that time has 
progress been made toward the opening up of what has 
been shown and known to be the richest portion of 
the globe. We want the United States Senators to 
understand that they are not deceiving the West by 
their nefarious class legislation, but only a few fossils 
among their own number and the romance-readers of 
the fate of the poor Indian. 

The course of some of our representatives has 


148 


Oklahoma. 


caused cynical feelings among the thousands who 
have had their minds and attention looking toward 
the opening up of this country, almost to a misan¬ 
thropical point. For instance, a Senator will intro¬ 
duce a bill for the opening up to settlement this 
country, and proclaim from the rostrum of the sacred 
halls of the United States Senate that he has no in¬ 
terest in any cattle company in the Territory, and 
even write letters that the army will not interfere 
with the colonists entering the Oklahoma country, 
and when the bill is first on the call of the morning 
roll of the great day when the fate of this bill is to 
be known, he absents himself. What are the people 
to think ? The introduction of the bill answered his 
purpose, and he has no further interest. There must 
be something convincing in the mind of the great 
Senator! Says the Spanish proverb: “Oaths are 
words, and words are wind!” Thus his unequivocal 
actions are to be passed over. 

Notwithstanding the position the Senator and 
some of his colleagues have taken, it is evident that 
there is a “ power behind the throne.” But in view of 
the fact that there is no question about the Oklahoma 
lands; that the United States courts have said there 
is none; that Congress has said so by granting 
railroad charters through not only the Oklahoma coun- 


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150 


Oklahoma. 


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try, but the Indian Territory as well,—we shall ask 
that Congress, without delay or further mockery of 
wise precaution, open the way to the settlement in 
peace of these public lands; and, as in all other cases, 
let immigration precede the railroads. Let the beef- 
producers of the Territory stand on equal rights with 
their State neighbors—and no more—and help bear 
the national tax for the privileges they enjoy. Let 
them atone for their past transgressions. Let the 
outlaws, thieves, and desperate characters be driven 
beyond the confines of these lands to the islands of 
the South Sea, if need be! Let commerce, let agri¬ 
cultural pursuits, let the farm, the orchard, and the 
native herds and thousands of happy homes, in a 
most delightful country, take their place ! 

Oklahoma! well watered, well timbered, rich in 
soil, a most enchanting clime, may in the near future 
be your home. 

















































































